Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
I think we all know reading 'snobs.' Just as we know eating snobs. (The sort who say 'I'd NEVER set foot in a fast food restaurant,' or 'I never eat left overs!') Those readers who say 'I never read anything that isn't included in the Compendium of the World's Greatest Literature.' 'May God strike me down if I read a common novel!' 'I don't even own a TV. I only read!'
While Beef Wellington or Veal Cordon Blu are delicious, so is a slice of pizza from the corner pizza parlor or a donner kabab from the local kabab shop. Pizza may well be more healthy than Beef Wellington!
I love reading Homer. I love to dive into Dickens and Shakespear. I can spend a nice weekend with Tolstoy. But I can spend just as nice a weekend with Robert Parker, John Sanford, or Lee Child. Come Monday morning I'm no better nor worse for having read any of them. Perhaps if I read those Paladin Press books I might even have gained some handy skills. Of course, reading Aristotle gives me some skills too.
All the reading I do gives me pleasure. (I don't read newspapers...) It's relaxation, education, meditation, and sublimation. And it's all good for me. Just as long as I don't read the newspapers. 
Stitchawl |
*TRUE* reading snobs - those who won't read anything outside of the 'compendium' you mentioned - have a secret they hide from the rest of us. Either they hate/fear reading or they literally cannot read. Thus, by insisting upon "reading" only the "most exclusive works", they can hide this deep, dark secret.
Those RSes who cannot read can be brought to true reading enjoyment. The others... Well, let's just say that these are also the kind of people who would deny *any* sort of pleasurable activity to others - even sniffing flowers.
Derek