Not to reopen the never-ending battle between advocates of literary vs. genre fiction, but I assume by now everyone has heard about the girl that saved a friend’s life using first aid techniques she learned by reading The Hunger Games. I’d always assumed The Hunger Games was more useful for information on shooting people with arrows, but there you go.
But what useful skills has anyone ever picked up from reading literary fiction? How to make cutting remarks? How best to map the travails and grievances of previous generations of your family?
I’m just sayin’.