shelley never saw john without a book of some kind in his hands and he wasnt like the other kids reading stuff just because the teachers made them or reading some popular thing that everyone else was because if you didnt read that popular book or series of books and tell everyone how amazing they were or even if you liked them - because popular books are sometimes popular for a reason - you would trash them to your friends to show how cool and above all that you were but you read them just so you could speak with authority about how awful they were .