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What's up with fiction?
I haven't read any since high school English class, but my fiancée does. She often buys the trendy stuff that has won some awards and is (I assume) prominently displayed at Indigo. Hanya Yanagihara and and Sally Rooney are two recent examples.
After asking her about her current book over the last couple years, I have come to realize that all of them are mostly based around the following things:
Sexual abuse, especially molestation
Homosexuality or transsexuality
Main character is black or similar, everyone is racist towards them except the good guy(s)
Main character is disabled somehow
While these plot points are basically mandatory to win a book award now, a lot of "classic literature" is just old books that happened to contain these themes. For example, Truman Capote would not be a big deal had he not been a homo who wrote about homo stuff.
None of this is that interesting, but it is weird how well the title of "literature" and book awards launder what is essentially gratuitous descriptions of homosexual molestation into something tasteful and classy. Is this widely known? I get the sense that this is something most right-wing men just have no idea about.
Fiction as a fundamental medium? I think it's a fine genre and works like the foundation series by Asimov ask and answer some interesting questions. Fiction as a market? Much like food as a market, good stuff is being produced but the most common product is unhealthy and scientifically designed to maximize sales volume over any other possible value. Victim porn sells better than interesting and timeless questions that one needs to actually digest.
That stuff is very low status though. I used to read a ton, but got shamed pretty hard, so I stopped.
People who shame you for reading have only a very limited means to attack your status. There are heights of status they cannot reach.
Eh, it's easier for me to just not read books than it is to either justify my low status choices or read higher status stuff I just don't like.
Or you could read the low-status stuff and not tell anyone about it.
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For the most part, screw status. Unless it's something that feeds negative habits, enjoy the stuff you enjoy. There's plenty of high status stuff that is either trash or not useful to you.
One series that I love is trashy paranormal romance, and it's hard to get lower status than that for a guy. There are legit reasons that I love the series, but "no, seriously, this is quality trashy paranormal romance!" is not a status-enhancing line when said sincerely.
Admittedly, I do sometimes read things in secret, because it's much easier to deny reading any books at all than to explain choosing not to read the important books. However,
This is one of those lies we tell unpopular teenagers and lonely young men. It actually really does matter how other people perceive you. It's a very large factor in a person's success in almost every endeavor in their life. Getting the things that you want out of life is probably going to require not engaging in low-status behavior such as smelling bad, hating sports, or choosing to read Tom Clancy novels instead of White Fragility.
Well, I meant it more in terms of recreational reading, not a fully-general "other people's opinions don't matter." They do. And not all low-status things are created equal--some things are low status for justifiable reasons. Even in terms of recreational reading, I'm not going so far as to say anything goes. But "the important books" is not a good limiter.
I'm not saying it is a limiter, but it is a threshold. Reading a lot of books and failing to read the important books is like spending a bunch of money and failing to leave a tip. It's not about what you spent your money on, but what you didn't.
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