Charlene D’Avanzo: During a Thanksgiving visit at a relative’s home I came to the conclusion that my host was likely a fiction snob. There were a hundred-odd titles in several bookcases but nary a one appeared to be fiction.

I’ve written a half-dozen mysteries so that realization came as a shock, and I’m clueless what to do about it – if anything. Maybe I’ll send them a copy of Secrets Haunt the Lobsters’ Sea or another in my Maine oceanographer Mara Tusconi series as a Christmas present. We’ll see.

A valid critique of fiction snobbery points out the obvious – weighty books such as Macbeth, The Tempest, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Catcher In The Rye are all fiction. The collection of all time best selling books also includes The Catcher in the Rye (65 million copies), The Alchemist (65 million copies), and One Hundred Years of Solitude (50 million copies). Of course, the list goes on.

I’ve read that a reader’s repertoire can be called an ecosystem of books that requires a certain level of diversity to thrive. As a ecologist, I think that is a terrific analogy.

Here are a few tips on how to spot a genre snob and what to do about it. For example, the literary elitist may:

– believe genre fiction is less serious and of worse quality than literary – say things like “popular fiction entertains the masses while literary fiction challenges the mind”
– read only literary fiction – no commercial genres
– never read a self-published book or a best seller
– never read feel good books with happy endings

The response:
– The distinction between popular and literary fiction is arguably false and something of a publishers’ marketing exercise.
– I would rather see people read anything, than not read at all. Read what you like and don’t let book snobs stop you. People are entitled to like what they enjoy. It is great to read.

– On the other hand one could argue that some books are “better” than others. A good novel tells a story honestly, without falling into clichés or wish- fulfillment. It subtly changes the reader without hitting her over the head with a “message.” It makes her want to examine the book, the world, and herself more closely.

Given these attributes no genre is worthless and none is flawless.