“In Woody Allen’s clever 1983 mockumentary ‘Zelig,’ the title character lies about having read ‘Moby-Dick’ so he can fit in with the crowd – kicking off a career as a face-changing human chameleon.
“Turns out there are a lot of Zeligs around: a recent survey found that more than two-thirds of respondents admitted to lying about having read classic books, with George Orwell’s ‘1984’ topping the fib list.
“The survey of more than 1,300 readers by the UK-based organizers of World Book Day, placed Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ and James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ at Nos. 2 and 3 of the book that inspired the most lies.
“Breaking at least one commandment, 24 percent of those surveyed said they had lied about reading The Bible, which placed No 4. People didn’t only pretend to read old-time tomes: President Obama’s ‘Dreams from My Father’ made the list, at No. 9.” (more @ NBC New York)
The 'Not-So-Rough' Guide 
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