Jenny’s Pennies

Yes, I can identify with this. I do judge people based on what they read (or not read). I have been out of the dating game for quite a while now, but hypothetically, if I were to look for a partner, literary tastes are up there on the list on what I think is important when it comes to deciding who to spend time with. It’s a compatibility thing - if the only book in your bookcase is the Bible, or worse, there are no books in your bookcase, only porcelain figurines and family pictures, I’ll know that no, we won’t have much in common. Other people couldn’t care less about what and if their partner reads, but find it very important that they share their sports passion, or love for the outdoors, or deep religiousness or whatever. We all have our ideas on what is important in a partner, and unless it’s truly ridiculous stuff (like wearing the wrong shoes), I don’t think we should pass too much judgment on that. For me, if and what you read do tell me a lot about you as a person, and if you hail Ayn Rand and Per Ahlmark (Swedes will get that one) as purveyors of Truly Awesome Ideas, I know that any discussion with you over the morning paper will not result in my thoughts being challenged and my arguments sharpened, but just a lot of headache from banging my head in the table. Equally, if you read tons of self-help books and stuff like “The Secret“, I’ll nod and back away slowly. That goes for new age-y books as well, with titles like (I made these up) “Healing through dolphins” and “What color is your soul?”. Thanks, but no thanks.

It doesn’t mean I judge your value as a person based on your reading choices, but it does clue me in on whether or not we’ll get along. Call me snobbish and elitist, but that’s the way it is.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Books, Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.