You oughta know what I liar I am, you oughta know me by now

There is an important exception to my put a book down rule. If you get a book as a gift, you really should read it, because you are going to get asked what you thought about it. In cases where you think the book flat out sucks, there is a possible work around. Head down to the library and check out review databases. If the book is reasonably popular, you should be able to find a variety of reviews that will give you all kinds of smart sounding things to say about the book. If the book is fiction, you can probably find scads of small press reviews of the book, and once again you will be armed with all sorts of wise things to say. Just watch out with fiction, as they will ask you why you thought the main character acted so cruelly to his friends or whatever. Having lots of reviews under your belt will allow you to redirect the conversation to another point. So if you ever give me a book and make lots of high level comments about it, you know what's really going on.

If you want a giant puzzle-based time waster, check this. Via Fazed.