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This is a question Books

We love books. Tell us about your favourite books and authors, and why they are so good. And while you're at it - having dined out for years on the time I threw Dan Brown out of a train window - tell us who to avoid.

(, Thu 5 Jan 2012, 13:40)
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Wait, hold on, ware you saying that people can only ever read one book series in their lives?
Because I'm pretty sure that most people are capable of reading the Harry Potter books and then any other book that they want to.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 12:49, 1 reply)
He'll be burning them next - mark my words.

(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 12:51, closed)
No, no, no!
It's not snobbery or sneering at the intellectual choices, it's just about saying "fine, but you could do better"

As I said in another post on this exact subject, (because an adult will inevitably mutter an apologetic reason for reading Harry Potter),

"It's the literary equivalent of saying that lukewarm piss is nearly as good as wine because they are both liquids that it is possible to consume without dying."
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 13:08, closed)
It's absolutely snobbery - it's sneering snobbery.
People have different tastes in literature - get over it. You're not in a position to tell anyone at all anything about what is "good" and what is "better" or "worse". You may only spout your equally worthless opinion in the hope that perhaps they'll agree with it.

It's the social equivalent of the playground justification "Well I've got a degree so I'm cleverer than you" - ie - bollocks expressed purely to instruct people that you're superior to them, when actually, you're not.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 13:18, closed)
Well I think that "could do better"
is a reasonable enough and gentle enough observation. It certainly didn't harm me in my yoof and doesn't harm me in my career or life in general. I ain't carrying a shoulder chip, I manage and teach people way better qualified than myself and they challenge me as I challenge them to be better and think smarter and give the grey cells a daily workout.

Social equivalent m'arse, I'll stick to the wine, there's more than enough piss to go around.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 14:24, closed)
"Could do better" isn't an observation, it's a patronising judgement.
As for the middle-managementspeak of "I challenge you to be better and think smarter" - I can only think of a few examples of less justifiably pompous, patronising nonsense, and one of them is "there are no problems, only solution opportunities".
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 15:00, closed)
Ooh, have a I touched a raw nerve?
Managementspeak ruined your day before has it?

It's only an internet, relax.

I give less than a fuck for Managementspeak, but I do give a fuck that people should try to improve what they do and to be able to justify their actions and decisions and challenge me if they think I've made a bad choice, just as you are doing here. Challenge is just a word, there are others but this is a good one to use in this environment.
Why do I care? It's our business and our livelihood in a competitive world and no amount of whining about being patronising will get you your job back when it falls apart.

Now then, back to books and kittens and nice things. Tea or coffee?
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 15:14, closed)
I'm being intolerant of your intolerance, yes.
But it is not equal intolerance. I am merely pointing out that your intolerance is unjustifiably judgemental, as you are not superior in any way to me or anyone else except whatever spawn you have.

Passing judgemental comment on what people choose to read, however, indicates that you think you ARE superior to people, and I'm merely telling you: you're not.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 15:25, closed)
So your intolerance is better than mine?
because you choose to take issue with something that rankles you for reasons I'm not interested in. This has nothing to do with superiority or whatever else you choose to paint it as, but smacks of something deeper. If I was also to play amateur psychologist then I'd have a stab but it's not my game, or yours either it would seem.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 15:38, closed)
So now you're passively trying to pass aggressive comment on my character, based on my one of my opinions.
Pffft.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 15:47, closed)
What am I, your bathroom mirror?
Pffft indeed.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 16:47, closed)
It is pure snobbery, and you've assumed that someone can't enjoy both Harry Potter and whatever books you claim to be 'intellectual'.

(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 13:34, closed)
Are you saying I can't summarily condemn people on their choice of reading material now?
I don't know what the world is coming to.


Thing is, I don't care all that much, I ain't the one apologising for what I read.
Perhaps "people like me" are the reason that others find it necessary to apologise, or perhaps there's another cause. I'll try not to let it keep me awake at night.
(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 14:33, closed)
But I haven't apologised for what I read. I'm not entirely sure that you're reading the same thread as the rest of us.

(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 15:43, closed)
Okaaaaaay

(, Fri 6 Jan 2012, 16:48, closed)

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