Geek Chic

It’s World Book Day today, which brings back memories of readathons and book fairs. Yes, I was one of those annoying children who preferred reading to Barbie and gave people book tokens for their birthday. I positively relished the prospect of those reading age tests and still boast about how I had the reading age of a sixteen-year-old in third class. It is pretty much the high point of my academic life.

Somebody else who seems to cling to academic achievements past is Alexa Chung, whose A Level results and decision to turn down a place at King’s College, seem to feature in every interview she gives. Perhaps I’m being unfair and it’s not Alexa, but the pushy journalists, who bring this up but she does seem quite keen to display her smartness, especially in interviews in the Guardian. This time last year she discussed poetry with Laura Barton, “Ted Hughes, he's really good. The one where he's staring at the sea and imaging the sea's his father. What a clever guy!" And when asked what she was reading in last Saturday’s Guardian magazine she replied, "I'm rereading The Great Gatsby, because I gave it to my boyfriend, then realised I can't remember the storyline, and I'm reading Franny And Zooey, and I was reading Confederacy Of Dunces and Love In A Cold Climate, but I lost them." Woah there, Alexa. And you can’t really list A Confederacy of Dunces and Love in a Cold Climate (two of my favourite books, by the way) if you’ve lost them. I do imagine however that having a journalist ask you what book you're reading is tricky - I bet it always happens when you're guiltily rereading Adrian Mole - and I think Alexa just wants us to know that she's more than just a TV presenter with a famous boyfriend. At least her choices are more interesting than boring Gwyneth who lists Jane Eyre and Crime and Punishment as her top two books in her really dull Goop post on reading.

Image from Weheartit