Hugh
Member
Reading 125 Titles A Year? That's 'One For The Books' : NPR
Joe Queenan is a humorist and some of his comments are tongue in cheek. However, he makes it clear which side of the fence he is on when it comes to "high brow vs. low brow" literature. He discounts genre fiction and he absolutely demeans self-published books. To his credit, though, he says he does finish so-called "dumb" books, albeit quickly.
There are two used book stores within two blocks of my apartment, (my neighborhood supports 4 book stores!), and they treat their genre fiction sections very differently. In one of the stores, which I only go to late at night when I'm staggering drunk, the genre fiction section is not only in the back of the store, it's in a hole of a room hidden from the rest of the store. There is even a hand written sign on the entrance of said room that explicitly says there is 'NO LITERATURE" in this section as if it's giving you a warning to stay away. On New Year's day I went in there, because my favorite book store was closed, to get a James Patterson novel. When I took it to the counter to pay, the store owner made an open display of his disgust before ringing it up. (An aside, this particular Patterson novel, one of his Alex Cross novels, had a deus ex machina ending, sort of stereotypical as to why genre fiction is so hated).
Anyway, I have a book case full of mass market paperback genre fiction, so I found Queenan's comments stinging. There's an audio player on that site, I'd reccomend you listen to the interview rather than just read it. Otherwise it sounds like the rantings of a grumpy old man.
Joe Queenan is a humorist and some of his comments are tongue in cheek. However, he makes it clear which side of the fence he is on when it comes to "high brow vs. low brow" literature. He discounts genre fiction and he absolutely demeans self-published books. To his credit, though, he says he does finish so-called "dumb" books, albeit quickly.
There are two used book stores within two blocks of my apartment, (my neighborhood supports 4 book stores!), and they treat their genre fiction sections very differently. In one of the stores, which I only go to late at night when I'm staggering drunk, the genre fiction section is not only in the back of the store, it's in a hole of a room hidden from the rest of the store. There is even a hand written sign on the entrance of said room that explicitly says there is 'NO LITERATURE" in this section as if it's giving you a warning to stay away. On New Year's day I went in there, because my favorite book store was closed, to get a James Patterson novel. When I took it to the counter to pay, the store owner made an open display of his disgust before ringing it up. (An aside, this particular Patterson novel, one of his Alex Cross novels, had a deus ex machina ending, sort of stereotypical as to why genre fiction is so hated).
Anyway, I have a book case full of mass market paperback genre fiction, so I found Queenan's comments stinging. There's an audio player on that site, I'd reccomend you listen to the interview rather than just read it. Otherwise it sounds like the rantings of a grumpy old man.
