Why snobs?

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Why snobs?

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1Tess_W
Mai 28, 2018, 11:05 pm

So, this group was listed as one I might like. I was almost afraid to look......the description lists what I would consider superior writers, but all the discussion and reviews are Sandra Brown, Dan Brown, John Grisham, Anne Tyler? So.........the snobbery is gone?

2RobertDay
Mai 29, 2018, 3:52 am

The first rule of Literary Snobs is that no-one admits to being a Literary Snob.

4Tess_W
Mai 29, 2018, 11:48 am

>2 RobertDay: So they read cheap novels to disguise their snobbery?

5Tess_W
Mai 29, 2018, 11:49 am

>3 bluepiano: I humiliate myself almost daily!

6libraryhermit
Modifié : Mai 29, 2018, 1:29 pm

For a while I was diligent about reading The Golden Bowl, Finnegans Wake, The Portrait of a Lady, The Wings of The Dove and Buddenbrooks, but there are some phases when I want to only read a book by Len Deighton or John LeCarre or Guillaume Musso. Many many years ago I studied in a University, but for a large percentage of my time spent on reading, most vestiges of disciplined reading are completely gone. I still read some high-brow stuff, but the pattern of jumping between that and pulp reading is completely unpredictable, so I don't even try any more to account for it.
At the time, I was able to really get into James Joyce and Henry James and didn't feel bored very much. Especially with Ulysses (James Joyce) it was a page-turner that kept me on the edge of my seat.
Maybe now that I'm getting a lot older, I am not able to keep up with the heavy slogging that some (but certainly not all) classics and snob-appeal books might require.
I still feel like Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo qualify as page-turners (boredom is never an issue).

PS.: I have read all the books mentioned above cover to cover, except Finnegans Wake, of which I have read only a total of 4 or 5 pages. I intend to try to finish it some day. I suppose like poetry, it's fine to bite off little bits at a time to savour to their full extent. Then move on to another section.

7libraryhermit
Modifié : Mai 29, 2018, 1:10 pm

Someone watching my reading could easily say that my attitude is: Bring on the trash reading, the sleazier the better. Just like TV.

8Maura49
Mai 29, 2018, 1:13 pm

> tess_schoolmarm: you have hit a nerve here I feel. I love reading posts for this group but only very occasionally contribute as I am overawed by the level of erudition displayed. I thought that I was quite well read before I joined this group. After all I did finally manage to read War and Peace last year. We won't go into how long ago I first tried! However I tend to talk about my love of Crime Fiction on other posts and wonder if my 'middling' reads for my book group count. We are currently reading The Muse by Jessie Burton should anyone be interested.

9Tess_W
Modifié : Mai 29, 2018, 2:07 pm

>8 Maura49: I read War and Peace last year. While I liked it, the enjoyability factor was about 3/5; historical factor 4/5. I guess what I'm trying to find out, is this group a good fit for me? I read some classics, some modern; but at age 62, I read whatever I dang well please! Am I snobbish enough for this group? I will decline the invite for The Muse, as I read and disliked The Miniaturist.

10Cecrow
Modifié : Mai 29, 2018, 3:00 pm

>9 Tess_W:, you could try just reading the posts for a while and accumulate a feel for it. I think of it as a sort of permission to adopt a certain tone.

I've found less emphasis here on only reading the classics or reading just "snobby stuff"; it's more about having a stronger opinion than "I like it because it's what everybody else likes". But if your taste happens to overlap with what's popular, lucky you, it happens. Lots of tolerance for different opinions, regardless how strongly we each like to express our own. I haven't seen much in the way of challenging, only agreement-to-disagree.

11RobertDay
Mai 29, 2018, 5:59 pm

The group header sums it up; there's a time and a place for lowbrow fiction, but in this group we aspire to higher things, even if the spirit is willing but the flesh sometimes weak. There's a time and a place for everything. And as Cecrow said, we may well read popular fiction but we will hold it to the same criteria as more ostensibly highbrow works.

We cast our net sufficiently wide to cover other works of literary merit even if they aren't ficton. I've just added to my reading pile the travelogues of Patrick Leigh Fermor for example, and will discuss them in more detail when the time comes.

My first love was science fiction, and this holds true for a good number of us on this group. But it was when my sister accused me of only reading science fiction and fantasy that I counted up the non-genre works of fiction in my collection and found more than 200 - and that number will have increased since then!

12Tess_W
Modifié : Mai 29, 2018, 7:35 pm

I will lurk and read and decide if I want to participate (if I'm snobby enough). I write a lot for my career, so while I always review my reads, they may or may not be in much detail; as then it becomes too much like "work."

13cindydavid4
Mai 29, 2018, 8:00 pm

>11 RobertDay: I discovered Fehmoor's work a few decades ago in a local used bookstore, found his first two books with the wonderful original covers, saw what they were about and thought them intriguing. Before that summer was out I mustve read them both three times. Took forever for the third one to come out but it was worth the wait (also read some of his other non travel ) Looking forward to your thoughts!!

14cindydavid4
Mai 29, 2018, 8:02 pm

I have a wide range of books that I like, and I have often found books in groups like this that I would never in a million years know about. For me it has nothing to do with snobbery (and I always considered the post title tongue in cheek anyway), it has everything to do for quenching my appetite for books!