How do you know you're not reading to seem smart?
I find being a pseud wrt music and film much easier because I eventually come to actually enjoy the "classics" and develop my own taste. Whether I initially did it to >feel cool> becomes irrelevant, because I know now what I like in these media.
Since reading (especially nonfiction) seems to demand greater engagement from the consumer, consumption of lit feels much more tedious. I don't even know if I like it/feel like it was worth it. Especially when I could have watched a bunch of instantly gratifying movies instead.
The final checkoff on ur yearly reading plan and gaining the rights to seem patrician and saying u read those books to English majors is worth the reading, plus it gets better as u read something enjoyable. You can also seem smart, which watching movie isnt gonna bring.
The secret is that it doesn't really matter. What you read should be entirely your choice. You shouldn't read an author our of imagined necessity, no matter how much the autists on this board think you should.
>>8134740
Because no one really cares about me anyway, so by extension no one cares what I'm reading and how it makes me look. Also
>the consumer
If you're consuming literature rather than experiencing it, then you definitely are just a pseud.
>>8135080
+1
nobody cares. I read because I want to.
Sometimes I find reading a book tedious and feel very satisfied after I've finished it.
Later, when I think back about the book, it's story, characters etc, it's a good memory and I'm glad I've read it - and that alone is worth going through it desu.
Obviously most of the time I do enjoy the reading itself too.
>>8135055
Being familiar with "fringe" auteurs can make you seem smart in certain circles. Especially when you talk about muh mise en scene