2 in 3 Brits lie about reading books to impress others

London, Mar 5 (ANI): When it comes to telling someone if one has read a book or not, more than half of Britons are happy to lie and claim they have, reveals a survey.

In the survey on the World Book Day website, Britons were asked if they had ever claimed to read a book when they had not, and 65 percent of respondents said yes.

And the book most people falsely claim to have read is George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', which has topped a poll of the UK's guilty reading secrets.

In fact, 42 percent of those quizzed said that they had falsely claimed to have read Orwell's classic to impress others.

Following closely after Orwell was Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' (31 percent), James Joyce's 'Ulysses' (25 percent) and the Bible (24 percent).

Conducted to clash with World Book Day today, the poll of 1,342 respondents revealed that most of the people in UK are impatient readers, because they skip to the end.

Britons are not particularly bothered about how they treat the actual book and turn the page to keep their place instead of putting a bookmark.

Although 33 percent of those interviewed aid that they have never lied, a clear majority have.

According to writer Francesca Simon, creator of the Horrid Henry children's books, it is possible to get sucked into making false claims.

When asked to name the writers they really enjoyed, 61 percent of people ticked JK Rowling and 32 percent John Grisham.

Forty eight percent of people have admitted of buying a book for someone else and reading it first.

And if you think those embossed leather bookmarks are something to cherish for book readers, then you are probably wrong, because 62 percent of people in the poll admitted they turn the corner of the page to keep their place.

"I consider that mutilation. I would never do that, what's wrong with using bookmarks - tickets, pieces of paper?" The Guardian quoted Simon as saying.

In the survey, a total of 14 percent of people have admitted writing in a library book. (ANI)