Listers might get a kick out of this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jun/29/challenging-difficult-books-tomes?CMP=twt_gu
Having recently finished it, I highly recommend the introduction to Steven Moore's "The Novel, An Alternative History", if you can get your hands on it, as a very pugnacious response to articles like this.
D.