Can You Judge a Book by it's Cover?

During my recent flight to New York, I couldn’t help but notice the matronly woman sitting beside me reading “ Why Men Love Women Who Are Bitches”.

How is that a woman who is old enough to be a Grandmother comes to read such a book? Is she the Bitch or did she loose her man to the neighborhood dominatrix? Be honest, are you brave enough to read such a book in public? Not me, I confess to being a book snob.

When meeting someone new, I’m not the kind of person to ask what they do for a living – or as a single male friend in LA tells me, the “make it or break it” question in his neighborhood is “what kind of car do you drive” - I’m far more interested in what you read.

You can tell a great deal about a person by what they read. For instance, if you like books that refer to heaving bosoms and throbbing manhood - we probably shouldn’t do lunch anytime in the near future.

Here are a few of my favorite reads:

Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri

Yo! - Julia Alvarez

Animal Dreams - Barbara Kingsolver

Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sadaris

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers