Preach it! I'm definitely not suggesting that we all have to start defending our tastes to people like Stein, just copping to the realization that I'm not helping whenever I try to make excuses for reading, say, a comic book instead of any of the 10 "classics" in my to-read queue.

And also to point out how complaints about adults reading YA stuff are just completely misdirected. The people who do read YA to the exclusion of all else are unlikely to get a lot out of reading the Heartfelt Character Study of Thirtysomethings in Modern Society of the moment. And the people who read both — who are the majority — have no problem bouncing back and forth and finding merit in whatever they read or watch.

When so many people (particularly in the GOP) are pushing anti-intellectualism disguised as populism, it doesn't help to see so many people (typically on the left) pushing pretentious elitism disguised as anti-anti-intellectualism.