Jeffre quoting Pierre Bayard talking about books one hasn't read, made me remember an excellent art project by Austrian artist/comedian/etc. Julius Deutschbauer: Bibliothek der ungelesene Bücher (Library of unread books). I like it very much for various reasons. One being Mr Deutschbauer being very Austrian, ironic, entertaining and serious at the same time. The project is part performance, where Mr Deutschbauer will interview people on books they have chosen, but not read. The interviews are more or less structured along what people expect from the book and how not reading it has influenced their life. The books are then filed in a library in Vienna's Museum Quarter. The library holds not only the books but also the respective interviews on the experience of not reading them.
Apart from being entertaining the library highlights the importance of things not done in a very nice way. It points out how we usually have just as strong or stronger feelings about things we don't know very much about. And this leads to several beautiful concepts, interesting situations, and some less attractive buzzy words ending with management. The latter tie in nicely with one of Mr Bayard's Tips: "Stick to generalities, remain ambiguous and say how much you like the work."
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