Embarrassed by your favourite novel?

I've just watched Sue Perkins on the Culture Show on World Book Night and she was embarrassed to admit that her favourite novel is Crime and Punishment. I've had that feeling too when my work colleagues are reading Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella, etc. and I'm engrossed in Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. I get questions like 'what you reading that for, you at college or something?' I get the feeling they think I feel superior, which I don't. I never make any comment about their choice of reading material and each to their own. What do you think?

I wouldn't worry about it too much, my favourite writer is Haruki Murakami and I read a lot of other Japanese literature like by Yasunari Kawabata, Banana Yoshimoto and people just roll their eyes when I tell them what books I like. I like books by Tolkien and I love Harry Potter too but there's nothing wrong with liking what isn't considered to be mainstream. If it helps, I haven't heard of the two writers you say your colleages like to read!

C Barton
Why should you feel embarrassed about reading Dostoevsky? There is too much dumbing down of culture so stand up and be proud. Not only that, old Fyodor is a damn good read and was a much better writer than those names you mention will ever be.

I wouldn't be embarrassed about anything I choose to read - whether highbrow or lowrbow.

Sue Perkins did seem embarrassed about "Crime and Punishment", but I got the impression that it was because it was gloomy, not because it was highbrow. She was contrasting it with some books intended to be funny and entertaining, rather than commenting on the writing style.
(I was going to agree with Damaskcat and say I'm not embarassed about anything I read either, then realised that the last book club choice, "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty", never made it out of the house and onto public transport.)

R Scott - Banana Yoshimoto and Murakami are my absolute favourites as well (N.P. and Norwegian Wood respectively). This is going to be a wonderful year, with the film of Norwegian Wood out tomorrow, 1Q84 out in translation later this year and I believe a new Banana Yoshimoto translation due

I am so excited for 1Q84! By the time it is out, October?, I'll have been waiting for two years to read it! I didn't know there was going to be a new one from Yoshimoto, I'll have to look that up!

C.Barton - if you enjoy the book then no need to be embarrassed, there's sillier things to like than a good classic.

I shouldn't worry about what your favourite books are C Barton. I didn't think that Sue Perkins looked that embarrassed, it seemed to me that the little girl had asked her what her favourite was. Lets face it it isn't really the best book to be able to explain to someone quickly, especially as it sounds boring and depressing, which it isn't really. At least you aren't saying that something like whatever is the number one paperback at the moment in the charts is the greatest book ever written.

I was surprised at all the fans for Lee Child, I can't stand his books personally. But what I found interesting is the talk about literary authors looking down on pulpy authors. There was a valid question that came up, why are so many literary books nowadays not plot driven? This never used to be the case, and lets face it how ever well someone writes, if there is no plot and charactirisation very few people will carry on with a book. Like most people I quite happily sit down and read anything if it grips me, whether it is hundreds of years old, or just written.

I couldn't finish C&P, just so boring.
But as my faves are really ancient tomes, I don't feel exactly embarrassed, but aware of the generation gap. As someone on a recent quiz prog remarked, Under Milk Wood? Never heard of it...

Sighs.......

So I don't mention Le Grand Meaulnes in company (and I mean the original in French), or Far from the Madding Crowd (Penguin Classics), or even my third desert island book The Gormenghast Trilogy. It's calmer that way.

Karen Lowe - would you recommend the Gormenghast Trilogy? I'd looked for it in book shops a while ago and couldn't find it and then forgot to look for it online.

My favourite book is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' but I feel it is now starting to suffer popularity snobbishness; masses of people like it therefore it is popular therefore it's not really literary - you know the deal.

Further to the Lee Child comment, I liken the plotless literary novel to the guy who does tricks with a football. Both are very clever and show off, skill, control and patient preparation. However, to carry the analogy too far perhaps, the football trickster would be a lot more impressive if he scored the winning goal at wembley; similarly, some of the literary plod-fests could do with a bit of cup-final drama to lift them into the popular consciousness.

I'm not embarrassed by my reading choices, or my favourite books. I happily read the Harry Potter books in the childrens covers in public, and I read a lot of YA books which I have loved a lot more than more literary adult books. It is all down to personal choice, and I would never judge anyone who read Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy as more intelligent than me, or someone who only reads 'chick lit' as less intelligent - I have read Anna Karenina and I have read Marian Keyes, Lisa Jewell and Jenny Colgan. Read what you enjoy and never be embarrased.

There was a programme on a few weeks ago and apparently they are preparing a new edition of The Gormenghast Trilogy, with lots of illustrations. Apparently Peake did loads of drawings whilst he was writing the book, and these will be included. Personally I loved the first and second parts but wasn't that enamoured of the third and final part.

To be honest, it's the first book of the trilogy that I loved, so definitely recommend that. Have to confess, I haven't gone back and finished the third book yet!

Surely if you read and enjoy a book then that is all that matters! I am never embarrassed by what I am reading, and I do read a lot of books for children (I work in an infant school) - I have read BFG on a plane, Harry Potter by the swimming pool. I find that in the summer I like chick lit light reads, Carmen Reid, Millie Johnson, and in the cold long winter nights, I go for different genres, "Shadow in the Wind" is a favourite. I wouldn't consider anyone more or less intelligent by the books they read,just different!

My favourites include The Crow Road by Iain Banks, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Red Shift by Alan Garner. It's quite reasonable to enjoy reading different things depending on your mood and the things going on in your life.

Oh Ali, how can I have forgotten Rebecca!
Don't think I'd be at all embarrassed about reading that one anywhere.
Also am a fan of Alan Garner - the Owl Service was great too.

Agree completely - sometimes I feel like gourmet and sometimes fish and chips hit the spot same with books - each to their own - live and let live

Perhaps I'm more shy, or just more shallow, but I've been embarrassed both ways. If I'm reading a classic, I fear people will make comments like, "What class is that for?" (They do.) If I am reading a genre book, like romance or fantasy, I feel people will sometimes sneer at that. (They have). So... actually, it isn't me, people do judge you by what you read, and I just prefer to not be burdened by their snap judgements. One reason I love my kindle is that I can be reading a philosophy book or a regency and it's no one's business but my own!

I suppose the advantage of Kindle is that you don't have to own up to what you're reading. Personally I read Lee Child and pretend it's The Iliad. But then I'm a snob!

You obviously read a range of heavy and lightweight books Tara, so anyone who makes sneering comments about either doesn't know you very well and their opinion doesn't count for much. (The kindle is a good way to avoid them though.)

I like KM's food analogy. For me the lightweight reads are more like cheese on toast, when I'm not hungry enough for another gourmet meal. I think we all enjoy the variety.

I agree with the comments about Gormenghast, but then Peake was very ill while writing the last part and it could be seen as reflecting his state of mind. A fourth part - Titus Awakes is due to be published in the summer to coincide with Peakes centenary.

When I go on holiday I always take a nice big classic book to read, although this year I wil have my kindle to take. I want a book that will last me through and something that is a bit slower paced. I don't sit on the beach so I only really read in the morning when I'm waiting for everyone else to get ready, or later in the evening/night time. People sometimes ask what I'm reading, but
I've never had any comments as such, only if someone else has read it and want to talk about it, or if someone wants to know whether it is good. I got some strange looks once when I was reading Balzac's 'A Harlot High and Low' whilst sitting in the waiting room down the docs. I don't know whether it was because of the title, which sounds rude, or whether it was because I was reading Balzac. : )

I was surprised the other week on the bus though. Mostly you see people just reading paperbacks that are just out, but there was a woman reading 'The Mill on the Floss'.

I wonder of there is a market for books which have a cover for The Iliad, Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace or whatever, but inside the cover you get James Patterson or Sophie Kinsella?

I'm sometimes embarrassed by what I'm reading, and like other people on the thread it can be at either end of the spectruum - because I feel it looks a bit lightweight, or because it looks too worthy. Some people do just feel the need to comment. The most awkward conversation I've ever had was in my early twenties in a hospital lift. I was visiting someone and was reading The Name of the Rose at the time. Lift doors open, in steps a Catholic priest who sees the book cover and insists on having a debate about how Eco portrays the Catholic church in a negative light and in trying to convince me on the finer points of theology. That was the longest lift journey I've ever been on. After we got out and it was clear we were heading in the same direction (with the priest still talking) I mumbled some excuse and went the other way and then had to hide until he'd gone :o)