[This post is from an earlier blog.]

There’s an article in the Guardian about how reading makes you appear more attractive to others. Reading is HOTTT

This is not exactly news to me–I know quite a few people who choose reading material for trips or poolside by how they’ll look reading them. Some call that stupid but now we know the truth.

In short, the books that’d get you a second glance and maybe a wink:
Modern lit (Zadie Smith, Sebastian Faulks) and classics
Books that’d only get an eye roll:
Erotic fiction, self help, horror and chick lit
Other preferences the writer uncovered within her own office:
Yays: Elizabeth Bishop, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Elmore Leonard.
Boos: Money by Martin Amis (awfully specific, don’t you think?), DH Lawrence, any book cover taken from a recent film or TV show.

The writer of the article was disconcerted that some people would flirt with a person reading The Inferno…I’d try to chat with someone reading that–what does that say about me? Other authors & books that’d get my attention: Ruth Rendell, Barbara Pym (I’m not holding my breath), Muriel Spark & Dickens. Books I’d be rolling my eyes over: Any mass market thriller-type book [unless the reader is on a plane/in an airport] . I’d also notice anyone reading something I’d really enjoyed, but that list is so long I’m not going to even attempt it.

That said, I would actively pursue a conversation with someone reading The Society of Others or How I Became Stupid.
What about you? What would put you right off or turn you right on?