One other thing:
It's valuable to make a distinction between assessing books and judging the people who read them. If someone wishes to assert that
The Ape-Gland-Enhanced Tusk-Hunting Cyclopes of Glagnia 12* is better than the complete works of Wallace Stevens, I might take issue with that evaluation. What I would not question is the validity or "level" (I hate that word) of the person who offered it.
§*§*§*§*§*§*§
* Readers of all kinds of '50s-'70s writers will be familiar with the ironic use of pulp titles and conventions -- a practice which has engendered entire modes of genre and meta-genre fiction. Without writers like Angela Carter and Philip K. Dick, '90s shows like BtVS and films like Ginger Snaps would not exist.