Steph, I totally get where you are coming from. It's not the consumption of the lowbrow, but thinking that it's quality would be the issue.

(says the girl who loves to read Jodi Picoult).

The Celestine Prophecy

What am amazing phenomenon of popularity vs. horrible writing evah.

Not for that alone, but those choices can be telling enough of other issues that they should not be ignored.

So very much this.

I think the problem I have is that I think of books as short hand for other aspects of one's personality.

And this.

I also think that if you are a person who believes either of these things, you will probably not get along (in a long-term relationship) with someone who does not, because you're going to be approaching the media you consume in such vastly different ways as to make conversation difficult.

Reading is important, and I dated two people that didn't read. One was dyslexic - but he wanted to be an actor - so he still got the word and story thing. The second - well, we had some major differences anyway ( He didn't believe in abortion, but you should have seen him goggle at the idea of being a single father, which was one alternative I offered)

As I was typing I remembered a third. he was a party boy/bad boy - so that was different.

Steph, I totally get where you are coming from. It's not the consumption of the lowbrow, but thinking that it's quality would be the issue.

I can totally see that.

Of course, I've been reading so little lately, I feel functionally illiterate.

Steph, I totally get where you are coming from. It's not the consumption of the lowbrow, but thinking that it's quality would be the issue.

(says the girl who loves to read Jodi Picoult).

Mostly, though, I'd have to break up with someone who hated to read, and proclaimed such. I don't expect my BF to be a wordnerd like me, but I suppose I do expect my BF to understand *why* I'm such a wordnerd, and respect that.

Although the Dan Brown thing might just kill me.

(I *have* re-considered my friendship with someone who did say, verbatim, "I *hate* reading! It takes up too much time I could be doing FUN stuff!" And she was in her 20s, not 4.)

I don't really read non-fiction. You guys aren't going to dump me, are you?

You bring the musical theater, I'll bring the non-fiction!

This reminds me that I need to go to the bookstore.

I wonder if people who deeply love music would break up with someone who listened to music they hated?

I wonder if people who deeply love music would break up with someone who listened to music they hated?

I haven't dumped my husband yet.

I'm with MM. I enjoy too much lowbrow stuff to point fingers at others. (For the record -- Hubs isn't much of a reader, doesn't care for fiction at all.) And I don't know where this falls in the "confusion of lowbrow and quality" spectrum, but a book that accomplishes what it sets out to do deserves at least some credit. In other words, if you set out to write trashy entertainment that makes people forget their troubles for a while, people have less room to turn up their noses if you succeed in writing a highly entertaining trashy novel.

And yes, I'd have trouble associating with people whose literary tastes reflect more fundamental concerns. But, to take the example of Turner Diaries, I'd call it a problem with the person's racism and not their literary tastes.