Book snob

One persons trash is another’s treasure , very fond of detective books myself ,
On my Kindle are books I want to re read , once read detective series go in the charity shop !

These are the books the nation gives away to charity. We keep the good ones ourselves to read again and again

Before Covid I ran a book group at the library, and the librarians said that as long as people were reading, even if it was Mills & Boon for example, it was better than not reading at all.

Using your thread title as a guide, are you poking fun at yourself?
Or suggesting we have to be more discerning as readers, and become 'book snobs' ourselves?

Yes, these are the books we read and discard as being not worth keeping.
I have hundreds of books, if I’ve enjoyed them I don’t want to part with them, is they have been rubbish, off they go to the charity shop!

The books on the shelves in charity shops are those that are read once, usually enjoyable but not kept to be re-read. The really good books are cherished; many of mine are forty and fifty years old, and when their time comes will probably end in a skip because of their poor condition.
At one time you could get a good selection of the classics in the summer, some almost untouched (!), following the end of GCSE, A Level and university exams, but now they are sold online for more money.

Thread title not to be taken too seriously, but there is quality in every field in life. Books are the only area in my life where snobbery rears its ugly head. A scan along anyone’s bookshelf (if they have one) tells you quite a lot about the person.
I enjoy many “light” novels, but they too can be judged and detective fiction has an honourable lineage
No one has to become anything they don’t want to.
My own beloved daughter never reads a book, the same with some friends and I still love them.

I picked up a lovely art book on Cezanne for £2 in a charity shop. There’s a particular charity shop in a market town near here where I have found some real treasures.

I rarely read fiction books more than once, hence I’m an avid library member. Any bought over lockdowns have been passed on, we have a couple of local ‘hubs’ where they can be donated if friends don’t want them.

How awful that people are judged by book snobs at the sight of chick lit or detective novels.

In my world people can read exactly what they want. As someone said, at least they are reading. Many people have never read a book of any genre.

hollysteers

Thread title not to be taken too seriously, but there is quality in every field in life. Books are the only area in my life where snobbery rears its ugly head. A scan along anyone’s bookshelf (if they have one) tells you quite a lot about the person.
I enjoy many “light” novels, but they too can be judged and detective fiction has an honourable lineage
No one has to become anything they don’t want to.
My own beloved daughter never reads a book, the same with some friends and I still love them.

Thank you for the explanation.
I think zoom is responsible for people stocking their bookshelves with 'intelligent' sounding book titles.
Not necessarily what they would read.
It's a problem when someone feels they must read James Joyce or some other worthy writer.
Reading becomes a chore.

I also enjoy detective novels which once read go to the charity shop - the books I keep are those which I will re-read again and again, my favourite being Sorrows of Satan by Marie Corelli. I bought it second hand at a book fair many years ago and I have read it so often that the cover and binding are falling apart!

They're probably the ones that are left over in the charity shop and will end up being pulped.

Our local Red Cross shop manager said "No paperbacks and no cookery books, please".

I enjoy detective stories for escapism but once you’ve read them you know how the plot ended so probably don’t read again. I also enjoy academic social history and historical demography titles which I dip into again and again. I tend to keep books (groaning bookshelves) rather than give them away but if I gave anything away it would be the detective stories. What’s the problem? Whatever floats your literary boat. I can’t bear snobs, literary or otherwise.

If all my Kindle library books were on my shelves, you would find all kinds of fiction, much of it lightweight crime fiction some of it sci-fi and plenty of it more 'serious literature'. As far as books are concerned, I'm an omnivore. During the periods of lockdown, a light diet has been necessary!

I read all kinds of literature, I like detective novels, and a lot of modern literature, I doubt I’ll read any of them again, but I don’t like parting with them.
Also, I like my rooms lined with book shelves!

I rarely buy a book but have a small collection of 'humorous' classics which I read over and over.
Also short stories.
I've found that as I've grown older I run out of patience with novels.

DH and I used to see which one of us was first to spot the FPlan diet book in a charity shop. Every shop had at least one copy. Nowadays, it seems as if it has been replaced by Fifty Shades of Grey.
I still manage to find books in charity shops that I want to read - not all are necessarily what could be classified as "good". The important thing is whether I enjoy reading them.

One of my fellow English teachers, Shakespeare scholar and highly intellectual, has a penchant for rubbishy chick lit. We tease her about it, but it's light relief for her and she doesn't give a sh*t what others think.

I can’t speak for other charity shop workers but I certainly don’t decide what goes on the shelves.
I’m just pleased that ( I hope) all the fifty shades of grey books have been pulped.
I think my friend is the worst book snob ever. She maintains that every once in a while you should read a Mills&Boon to appreciate good literature ?

I'm never without a book, my reading tastes are eclectic, whatever I fancy lots of crime/psychological Val McDermid, Anne Cleeves, Louise Candlish, Peter May type of material. The late Ruth Rendell was and is my absolute number one writer for that category of book.

Sometimes I delve into more serious genres right now I'm reading "The Leopard" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which I believe would be deemed as classic by some. Just prior to reading this I read "The Vanishing Half" one of this year's acclaimed novels by Brit Bennet.

Much of my reading would probably be deemed as light/non serious. Waiting for me on my shelves, for example is Lisa Jewell's latest which I'm looking forward to reading I really enjoy her stuff and I'll get round to reading Lucinda Riley's "Missing Sister" before the year's out

A Booker Prize winning book doesn't mean a thing, a couple I've read have been abysmal such as "Lincoln in The Bardo" utterly incomprehensible, I'll never know why I kept going with it. On the other hand "The Blind Assassin" from a few years ago I thought was sublime and will always have a place in my heart and on my shelf.

I use my local library, I buy books, I keep my treasured reads, I love my books shelves, homes without books are soulless places to me, If it were a choice between books and tv then the tv would be out the door first! I can't bear to part with a book I've loved but, I off load many good reads to charity shops, often I've enjoyed them but know I won't read them again and amongst those would undoubtedly be a lot of crime.

I'm not bothered what anyone thinks of my choices, books are subjective and personal. I feel sad for people who don't enjoy reading, I think some people never pick up a book again once they leave school. IMO reading is one of life's great pleasures, but only if you enjoy it in the first place.

TerriBull
I agree on all points.
I used to feel I had to read a certain amount of classics, and still do to an extent, but I really read what I like, I read for pleasure, I love reading, and I love books.

Snobbery in any form is distasteful.

If I see a book or someone recommended one and I think that I might like I buy it, whatever the genre.

As for E L James Fifty Shades of Grey and it’s sequels I often wonder if those who dismiss/trash them have ever read them?

I belong to a book club and find that some member choose books they feel we should read rather than ones we enjoy. One choice I found so dire I could not read it and when I said to another member she told me I should read it no matter what! I do not find chick lit books at all satisfying and after reading a couple that were handed onto me I went back to Graham Greene and - the End of the Affair - read it a few times now. Have also gone back to the Guernsey Literary and potato peel pie society a few times. I am careful about historical novels and not at all keen on Philippa Gregory but love Robert Harris - his research is so good. I loved an Officer and a Spy - about Dreyfus. I had been intrigued about him when he came up in history lessons.
I agree though that it is better to read any type of book than not to read at all. Everyone to their taste.
Some books I just could not bear to give/throw away - just in case!