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I think a good novel (no matter how "low" of class, even something as horrifying to a literary snob as a genre thriller, cheap romance or, good heavens, a children's book) is really in many ways a perfect solution and a cure, or an antidote, if one has taxed one's brain hard with "serious" work during the day - my work (foreign news editor when I was younger, technical translator for the last 10+ years) has always involved hours and hours of focused reading, so at least in my case there really isn't a lot of mental energy left for anything that even remotely requires "working" on it.
And if the options left are a "genre" novel or TV, I'll take the novel any day, no matter how simple the language and unoriginal the plot, as long as it keeps me interested - at least for me, reading still lets me exercise my imagination more than TV-watching does.
Back on topic, I'm tentatively enjoying The Luminaries; 22% into it and I'm sort of starting to see what the plot might be. It's also quite refreshing to read a well-written third person omniscient narrative since - well, ages, I think; I've really not come across too many modern books that use it (and use it well, and properly, unlike some that have probably attempted it but have ended up with limited 3rd person POV head-hopping) but since the book is set in the 19th century, it feels rather fitting.
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