Suspend Your Disbelief

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fiction as social grace


According to this recent study, fiction makes you more empathetic–and therefore less socially awkward. If you’re British, you can even use those bookish charms to find love on PenguinDating, “where book lovers meet.”
From the Penguin Blog:

Sure, some of us might be trapped in joyless, loveless relationships with people who get upset because we were looking at online dating websites, even though it’s for PERFECTLY REASONABLE reasons like fabricating a picture of a King Penguin with a match.com profile KATE. But there are others out there yet to find that special joyless, loveless relationship in which to get trapped. So, for those poor souls, Penguin have teamed up with match.com to make it easier to pick potential dates online based not just on idle frippery like hair colour and star sign, but on truly important stuff like what books they like. As an example of how crucial that can be, see how arousing this is:
I just finished reading Forty Stories by Donald Barthelme … ladies.

How does fiction help you function in society (or on its fringes)? And what role — if any — do books play in your dating life?

For inspiration:
“It’s Not You, It’s Your Books”


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