As deep as a holiday tan

Interesting piece in The Guardian today by Mark Lawson examining what the top ten summer reads tells us about British reading habits. The conclusion seems to be that as a result of there being no Dan Brown or J.K Rowling offering the list is free of some of the usual titles but still influenced by television, particularly the Richard & Judy bookclub.

Having looked over at what people are reading on sun loungers on holiday my feeling is that you have to be careful about reading too much into these things because I doubt most people thought very hard before picking their books to take. Most people opt for a mixture of the top twenty that are all easily available at the newsagents and bookshops at airports. The choices reflect more the apathy and power of suggestion and advertising more than what the actual books themselves are about.

A couple of years ago I once quizzed someone on their choice of book only to be told that they chose it because the cover looked good. Need I say more?