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Oh, my. Having been an avid reader for a loooong time, I've dealt with this sort of thing in one form or another for ages.
In its simplest form - scorn for the sake of being scornful. This usually starts, "What are you reading?", leads to "Oh. Whatever floats your boat. Do you read a lot?" and lands in the mire between "It's not normal to read that much" and "At least read something worth reading" though the specific criticisms vary. Not surprisingly, this usually comes from someone who hardly reads at all, and can be summed up as "I don't get why you read and so it must be bad".
We have the "scornful of fantasy" crowd, who can't see the appeal in "things that aren't real / can't happen", and so there's obviously something wrong with me for reading it. Then we have those that are scornful of romance. I'm sure I don't even have to explain all the ways this one can go downhill. This can come from men or women, though usually with different complaints. My favorite is "reading romance gives women false expectations".
And, of course, I must be some kind of psycho if I enjoy reading horror.
I bring much of this on myself, I guess, because if someone asks me what I'm reading, I tell them. I have no shame, nor should I. Reading is awesome, and something to be proud of. LITERACY ROCKS! Haters gonna hate, and I guess if they get it out of their system with me, maybe I'm sparing someone else.
And... every once in a while, the question "what are you reading?" leads to a good conversation and a new or closer friendship, so it's worth it.
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