Intellectual Trumps! THAT'S AN OXYMORON!
I haven't noticed that, Fr. I see people with books here and there, and being a reader I naturally gooseneck to find out what they're reading. Generally something interesting, and I jot down the title to look it up later. A guy yesterday was reading David Brooks The Road to Character. I wanted SO MUCH to harass him for his thoughts, but I was too shy. I was afraid he'd tell me to mind my own business. 
I almost always smile at people reading Rowling. They never look embarrassed. It's as if we have a secret. Now I'll be on the watch for the book slipped beneath the newspaper in the face of Dickens. It would be hilarious if we have that here. I've never seen it though.
What I was driving at is the intellectual embarrassment factor.
Goodness, not at all. Did you just meet me? I think I mentioned I was listening to the audio, so no one knew I was reading it, but if they did, the more judgy looks the better. That kind of thing makes me laugh.
I can't read print on the train though. I have motion sickness. It's about an hour and a half almost every day for me, so I decided to take on audio books to pass the time. If I read print while in motion I become really dizzy. So I didn't have to endure the gaze of the gentleman across the way, legs crossed at the knee perhaps, a newspaper folded in his lap and a cup of Joe in his fingers. Wearing a suit of grey, danger in his eyes, his sleek hair caught in fifty shades of divine. Pardon me, I digress.
I told people at work I was reading it. Naturally everyone there is a reader. They were so appalled they actually turned into Mount Rushmore before my eyes.
One time, just for fun, I told one of the guys at work that my favorite novel is Twilight. He's the biggest book snob I've ever met, so it amused me to disappoint him with my selection. I'm obtuse, Dill. I have no idea if that comes out via print between us. I can sing pretty well, but I never sing well for anyone. I always sing awful songs, off-key, just because it makes me laugh to make people think I think that's good singing, and watch them attempt to be polite about it. Someone judging my reading selection isn't going to faze me. I knew why I was reading it, and I had a sound reason for doing it. That's enough for me.
The erotic scenes would have embarrassed me though! I listened to the audio at work as well. (I stock shelves, which is a fairly brainless activity, so I listen to books while I work sometimes.) I lived in mortal fear that the cord would come unplugged on my phone, and some horrifically graphic scene would be blasted in front of my peers. Even though they knew I was reading it, I'd have been embarrassed. I was stunned and appalled by several of the scenes, and I'm sure it showed as I was listening.
We've got book snobs here in America. Some would consider reading Dickens elitist (dead white guy) and judge you for that. Some would just think "who does she think she is?" if they saw me with Dickens. I was wearing a t-shirt recently (my sister bought it for me) that said, "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid." (Jane Austen quote.) And that either won a laugh or a scowl. My boss when I was an English tutor in Cinci hated Dickens because he said he wrote for the word count and it shows. He was disgusted with all the books I claimed as favorites. (Jane Eyre, Jane Austen, Gone with the Wind.) He claimed Moby-Dick as a favorite and hated Rowling's work. I didn't find his list of favorites very original.
America as a whole? It varies based upon a person's priorities. We don't have just cut and dry intellectual snobbery here. We just have a lot of people with varied opinions: (you read too many elitist works, who do you think you are, you should be reading Caribbean works), (that book doesn't do science fiction justice, how do you not know that), (if 25% of your yearly reading isn't LGBTQ, you obviously don't care about the cause), (I don't read women authors because they have nothing to say that relates to my life), (I only read American works because nothing else is related to my life), (you only read the dead white guys, you have no actual concept of the world), (I like to read post-colonial works because the canon has overlooked them), (if it's not in the canon it isn't real literature), (that book completely distorts history you clearly only read for entertainment), etc.
I'd say the majority don't care one way or the other and just wonder why you don't have the latest [insert whatever the latest thing is]. In Atlanta I see a lot of people reading interesting books, and they're generally extremely friendly when you mention your thoughts on the book. I've never (EVER) seen anyone here openly reading Fifty Shades. But as I mentioned, it FLEW off the shelves a couple years ago.
I think if I saw someone reading Fifty Shades on the train, I'd crinkle my nose and shake my head. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE WORLD? WHY WOULD YOU READ THAT? But if I asked them what they thought of it, and they said, "HOW did this thing sell so well? I'm astonished by how bad this is. I read it out of curiosity." We'd shake hands and have a conversation, and I would consider them intellectually sound for reading it. (If they said, "OH MY, MR. GREY IS SO DREAMY" I would slap them in the back of the head and then throw the book out the window.)
I do have opinions about what people are reading, and want to bully everyone into reading what I view to be the best books but I also love hearing what they actually enjoy, and why. I love asking people their favorite books as a break the ice thing. They almost always list something erudite (if they know I'm an English major), then a couple gentler titles, and then quietly, almost apologetically, say that they honestly love the Harry Potter series most of all. They'll avoid my eyes, and I will swallow them with a hug and say WE ARE NOW BEST FRIENDS AND THAT IS THAT. And that's often a big ice-breaker, because who doesn't love Rowling? (Except you.) 
