A side effect of using books to explore the shared ground between people is that it needs to start with some name dropping, which I have felt is really disliked

A side effect of using books to explore the shared ground between people is that it needs to start with some name dropping, which I have felt is really disliked by Americans in general. As a French, I see name dropping as a quick way to find which books can be talked about with some people you don't know well, but it is perceived as snobbish and may trigger some inferiority complex. Not sure why: it is ok to not read books, it is ok to not have read Proust or Celine, it is ok to be very picky. Having different tastes and cultural background is what makes discussion interesting (but it helps if some common ground can be found).