Ack! I'm a book snob!

This month, our book group is reading a book called Can You Keep a Secret? Yes, it's a book title that ends in a question mark. It's by someone called Sophia Kinsella. I suspect there are two kinds of people in this world: those of us who say "who the heck is Sophia Kinsella", and those of you who look at us like we have two heads and say "Shopaholic, DUH!" Oh. I think I've heard of that before.

I missed the last book group, so I didn't get to vote on the book we'd read, but I guess it was a somewhat contested choice. Personally, I like book group because it introduces me to books I otherwise wouldn't read, and this book CERTAINLY fits the bill. I can assure you, I would never have picked this up :) So I'm kind of glad this was the choice. At the very least, I now know there's a book called Shopaholic which is apparently kind of well-known.

My problem, however, is that I guess this book is popular. I've had it on request at the library for the past three weeks, and it still hasn't come in. Book group is only a week away, and I still didn't have the book! Kind of snuck up on me!

Gio is always awesome about being willing to loan me book group books, and I bet she would have loaned me this one, too. But, it's already getting really close to book group, and I was right next to the book store. So I figured I'd just go in and buy it. It's been about a month since I've bought any books, so I didn't feel too guilty about the expense.

I went in, and couldn't figure out what section to look in. "Literature" didn't occur to me! But at least according to Borders book store, Can You Keep A Secret? is an example of literature, so once I was directed to the proper section, I picked it up.

And something weird happened: I got SUPER embarrassed. It was embarrassing to have to ask where to find this book. It was embarrassing to walk through the store with it. It was embarrassing to pay for it. I felt like explaining to everyone I saw that it was a book group choice...I wouldn't really have picked it.

This was ridiculous. First of all, I regularly read total crap. I post a record of the garbage I read on the side bar. I obviously have no shame! I've gone into this same Borders and bought Laurell K. Hamilton books, which not only are ridiculous and badly written, but also have extremely embarrassing covers featuring scantily clad women. Now *that* is something to be embarrassed about, yet I do it without batting an eye. Second, I have plenty of friends who read chick lit. I have no problem with their reading selections, and don't judge them for it any more than I'd like to be judged for my geeky addiction to sci-fi and fantasy.

So what's wrong with me? How did I get to be a total book snob? My only slight consolation is that I managed to keep my crazy in check enough that I didn't actually explain to strangers that I wouldn't normally read this book.

Have you ever bought a book that embarrassed you to be seen with it?

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How much you bet I read this book and totally love it? It would serve me right. Maybe in the future I can read a whole slew of books with odd punctuation. Got any book suggestions for me where the title ends in an exclamation point? I LOVE exclamation points!!!!!!!!

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Random unrelated thought: My food aversions have now expanded to include everything. Except coffee ice cream. So at least I have that...