I think it depends on how one defines having read a book. When I say I've "read" Moby Dick when I've only read bits and pieces, am I lying? I used to teach at the school Herman Melville attended, and we had a big huge Melville festival weekend, including a marathon reading of Moby Dick, and I even read a section aloud (10 pages of Ahab sitting by himself in his cabin experiencing existential dread: what fun!). So I know the book fairly well, but I haven't read the bloody thing cover to cover, and I have no plans to.
(And in fact Melville only attended the school for two years, until his family lost their money and he had to drop out. So their claiming him as an alumnus is a bit like my saying I've read Moby Dick.)
But I have read all of #s 1, 2, 3, and 5 from this list, and significant portions of #s 4 and 8.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-06 02:40 pm (UTC)(And in fact Melville only attended the school for two years, until his family lost their money and he had to drop out. So their claiming him as an alumnus is a bit like my saying I've read Moby Dick.)
But I have read all of #s 1, 2, 3, and 5 from this list, and significant portions of #s 4 and 8.