Joel Stein Can Bite Me

Joel Stein penned this article for the New York Times, "Adults Should Read Adult Books".

Quoting from the article, Stein says, "I appreciate that adults occasionally watch Pixar movies or play video games. That’s fine. Those media don’t require much of your brains. Books are one of our few chances to learn. There’s a reason my teachers didn’t assign me to go home and play three hours of Donkey Kong. I have no idea what “The Hunger Games” is like. Maybe there are complicated shades of good and evil in each character. Maybe there are Pynchonesque turns of phrase. Maybe it delves into issues of identity, self-justification and anomie that would make David Foster Wallace proud. I don’t know because it’s a book for kids. I’ll read “The Hunger Games” when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults."

There are perfectly acceptable reasons to read besides learning or gaining insight into the human condition. One of those is escapism. Besides, what's it to Mr. Stein? Oh, that's right he's an author. Of a book called, Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity. (I'm not linking to it because I'm not helping you or anyone else seek this book out.) Man Made describes his escapades shadowing firefighters and driving a Lamborghini- amongst other "masculine" pursuits. To this I say, it sounds like you've written a perfectly ordinary book. Maybe not a good idea to name drop Thomas Pynchon or David Foster Wallace unless you're in their league and, from the looks of your book, you're not and probably never will be.  Oh, and even though you're mocking Suzanne Collins- I hope it hurts that you lack the talent to even write the kind of books you look down on- let alone hope to have her kind of sales statistics.

I read 400+ books a year. Where do I find the time? I must spend all day reading, right?  No, I have a job and three kids- two of them homeschooled. Well, I can read 1300+ WPM (yes, per minute). I've never taken a speed reading class. I've done it solely by reading books. Books of all kinds, including young adult, mystery... all of the types of books that a literary snob would look down on. But I have this to say- I probably read more "real" literature than you do (literary snob) because of how fast I read. So, don't judge people by what they read, just be happy that people are reading.