"Ah, you like reading"

"Ah, you like reading. Have you read "Fifty shades of grey"?" someone asked me while I was perusing a Romanian book in a lounge.

What does one answer to that? I have truthfully stayed away from this book and anything related to it, like I do with all fads that smell fishy. I have gathered from some of my friends though that being asked if you read it is like being asked if you saw some very popular porn movie.

Well...

What did I answer? I said "nah, I only read sci-fi". I guess that is satisfactory enough for most people whose opinion of you is never going to be based on anything other than shallow observations.

I do read sci-fi. I gobble it up like chocolate truffles. It is, after all, my favourite genre. There are plenty of brilliant books that inevitably make you think. The authors not only speculate about science and technology, but also about society.

But I don't only read sci-fi. I also read fantasy (I know I heard a few laughs here and there; yes, science-fiction without the science part) and a few good books by good authors, very few and they have to be very good.

Some people only read what is "in fashion" at the time. Really, kids, reading is not the same as wearing fancy jewelry (neither is carrying a dog with you, perhaps in your purse). Try to think for yourselves a bit too.