The inestimable Ann Kingman of Books on the Nightstand fame stated in her most recent podcast that book snobbery should not be permitted unless the snob has actually read the book.
Two things about this statement that I like a lot:
- It forces the Proust snob to read a book like Twilight before denigrating it as literary trash.
- It acknowledges that book snobbery is perfectly acceptable so long as it is an informed position.
I like that. It requires pretentious literary jerks to shut up and read but still allows an informed critic to question the literary merit of a book.
For the record, I read the first 100 pages of Twilight before denigrating it as literary trash.
