Elitist moi?

Someone recently accused me of being ‘elitist; by reading books by people like Proust and Joyce. My argument was that it was never intended to come across like that but if push came to shove I tended to opt for classic books that I either felt I should have read and missed out on or from writers that had an established track record and a bit of weight.

But the person who made this comment doesn’t really read at all so in the case, if it’s not a question of intellectual snobbery about authors, but just the act of reading that is elitist then you have to challenge that.

Almost everyone can read, and pick up books for pence in a charity shop or join a library, and unless there are medical reasons why it is not possible then the question that has to be asked in return is why don’t you read? The answer no doubt will be one influenced by many factors ranging from TV dependency, laziness and possibly stupidity. Maybe I am elitist but I’d rather be seen as that than a couch potato trying to convince myself I can learn as much as I could reading by listening to commentary on the goggle box.