the book snob is back
We recently did some job interviews at my day job for an admin person. At the end of the first interview, I asked the applicant what they enjoyed doing on the weekend. Our hapless applicant said that she loved to read in her spare time. Being a total book snob, I asked who some of her favourite authors were. "Well, I don't know if you've heard of him, but I really like reading Dean Koontz".
Firstly, it's a fecking library - of course we've heard of Dean Koontz. Secondly, it's a fecking library - we all think Dean Koontz is trash. Ok, calm down, all of you from the Dean Koontz fanclub, don't be sending me death threats. He is crap. I mean at least she reads, but for pity's sake - Dean Koontz? Nearly as bad a fecking Bryce Courtney.
So what is the book snob reading you ask? I'm currently reading a fantastic book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon called "The Shadow of the Wind" - translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves. It's set in Barcelona in the 1950's and is about the son of a bookseller who is caught up in a literary mystery. I'm really loving it. It's a bit like a literary version of a Dan Brown book (but far better obviously).
Firstly, it's a fecking library - of course we've heard of Dean Koontz. Secondly, it's a fecking library - we all think Dean Koontz is trash. Ok, calm down, all of you from the Dean Koontz fanclub, don't be sending me death threats. He is crap. I mean at least she reads, but for pity's sake - Dean Koontz? Nearly as bad a fecking Bryce Courtney.
So what is the book snob reading you ask? I'm currently reading a fantastic book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon called "The Shadow of the Wind" - translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves. It's set in Barcelona in the 1950's and is about the son of a bookseller who is caught up in a literary mystery. I'm really loving it. It's a bit like a literary version of a Dan Brown book (but far better obviously).
posted by Laziest Girl at 4:17 pm
5 Comments:
I'm a member (the only male one, in fact) of a book club with a few of my coworkers, and each time around a new person chooses the book so that we get different styles. The last book was a Dean Koontz novel. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed a few Dean Koontz books, but I've never felt they lend themselves to deep discussion as much as one or two nights reading. Fortunately,I managed to keep my cynicism toned down for most of the time, so I'm still allowed to participate.
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I tried reading Koontz once after someone enthusiastically recommended him to me.
Hated it.
CK - It's ok - I won't block you from my blog JUST because you've read some Dean Koontz.
L - If I ever take geek tablets and start a cyberspace bookgroup, I promise that you will be the first person I invite to join! Of course, this project will have to wait until I have the “I hate Dan Brown” meetup group up and running.
Bryce Courtenay should be killed. With bricks. Several times. Just to be sure.
I too once worked in a library, and I generally managed to keep my literary snobbery under control. There was only one time I just couldn't help myself. The woman was checking out 'The Celestine Prophesy' (which should tell you exactly which year this was), and she enthused, "This should be interesting, shouldn't it!"
I repressed a Sideshow Bob-style shudder and smiled affably, as if to say, I value you as a person and as a patron of this library. But she wouldn't take the hint. "Well, what do you think?"
Still smiling affably, but with just a hint of ice, I said, "I don't like to venture opinions."
"Oh," she said, a little less enthusiastically.
"Sorry, but that's what you get for demanding that I endorse your bone-headed choice of reading material, you dim bint," I added.
After she'd left.
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