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Discuss books you haven't actually read:

"How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read" has become a best seller here [in France], with translation rights snapped up across Europe and under negotiation in Britain and the United States.

"I am surprised because I hadn't imagined how guilty nonreaders feel," Bayard, 52, said in an interview. "With this book, they can shake off their guilt without psychoanalysis, so it's much cheaper."

Here, then, Bayard reassures them that there is no obligation to read. He boasts of getting away with lecturing to students on books that he has either not read or has merely skimmed. And he recalls passionate exchanges with people who also have not read the book under discussion.

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Bayard then offers tips on how to cover up ignorance of a "must read" book.

Courtesy of Donald Sensing.