This could be from any age really. I remember reading lots of books like Harry Potter as a 4th grader to seem smart to the teachers looking at me but I didn’t understand any of it. When the big YA dystopian boom was happening, I read tons of terrible YA dystopias to seem cool but many of them frustrated me.
Haha! I kind of go the other way. I was sitting around with a bunch of parents while our kids were at band practice. One of moms was reading “In Search of Lost Time,” by Proust. I was reading “Footfall,” by Purnelle and Niven. She asked what it was about. I was like, wow, this is going to sound so stupid, “It’s about aliens who look like elephants who invade Earth.” Another time, I got called for jury duty on a trial for possession of a small quantity of meth. I brought along “Fortress Against the Sun,” by Salecker, about B-17 operations in the Pacific. I was the only one in the jury pool who brought a book. The DA looked at me, saw the book, and I was dismissed, no questions asked. The next time I get called up, I’m going to take “Crime and Punishment.”