Reading Snobbery; a guest blog by Jake Mann

We all read in this day and age. Most of the world, thankfully, have the ability to read. Gone are the dark days when literary skills were limited to the privileged few. It is taught in schools globally, and after speech, mobility and eating it is one of the foremost and first things we learn. And it’s everywhere. We use it all the time. In supermarkets, road signs, newspapers, everywhere. We don’t even realise we’re doing it most of the time. We all accept it as an every day thing. So why should it matter to some what we read? Why are we sometimes judged on our reading choices?

Let’s start with a big one: The Bible. This single book has caused more bloodshed, fighting and grief than almost any other book. Almost any other object actually. Yes, yes, I can hear your cries about all the comfort, joy and hope it has given too. But this is exactly my point. Each person takes something different from it. Each person can read it and take different meanings from the same printed words. So surely, can’t this to be the case with anything we read? Can we not read the trashiest of love stories or the most perverted of horror stories and enjoy them in our own, individual ways? Does it really matter what someone else’s opinion is?

There are people. Judgemental people. I’m sure you know the sort. They have the latest “must have” book on their coffee table, all displayed nicely in that casual way that it gets noticed. If you really look closely you’ll probably find it never been opened. But it was recommended at the Golf Club Book Club because Cynthia, the captain of the ladies golf team said it was an “absolute must” in the Country Life literary section. No chance of finding any Stephen King on her bookshelves.

And then you get the militant reader. The opposite end of the scale. They read indie books because they’re “so much more real man. None of this pompous rubbish you get from the mainstream.” They delve into the unknown and un-recognised because they think they are reading work by authors that haven’t sold out. As soon as they make it they lose their edge is pretty much their opinion on the established. It seems to fall on deaf ears when it’s mentioned that most writers started out that way.

And then there are the masses that sit in-between. The vast swathes that frown at someone reading The Sun newspaper but then go home and turn some inane talent show on. They’re quite happy to be influenced by short attention span TV advertising but condemn someone for reading Mien Kampf.

But let’s look at the working man, sitting in his lunch break reading a low brow newspaper. What’s he actually doing? To start with, he is, as I said, reading. He is increasing his vocabulary occasionally. He is exercising his brain. He is, without knowing, constantly learning. He can form opinions on what he is reading. He can debate on it. He can go home that evening and express delight/outrage/sadness at what he has read.

This applies to all reading. We don’t still read the books we read as children. We move on, we extend ourselves. We want to grow. We find what we like, what brings us pleasure. A lot of what we read in books and novels is a story. Let that sink in……………… It’s a story. It’s made up. It’s making your brain pretend things that aren’t real. Lolita is a love story. The fact that it involves an underage girl has people up in arms. But again, it’s not real. It’s a beautifully written, tender love story. But it never really happened. Stephen King has murders and gruesomeness spilling from his pages. Horrific visions are conjured up. I’ve read some of them. I didn’t immediately set out on a murder spree. We can all separate fiction from reality. If you can’t then sadly that is your issue.

So my point. It doesn’t matter what you read. Go ahead, read the most eloquent of novels or read the bargain bin romance. If you enjoy it then so what. Even the person reading the ingredients on a tin of beans is learning and improving themselves. They now know what goes into a tin of beans. So let’s just embrace all of our tastes and accept them. After all, how did you know what I had to say here? You read it.