Quiz: Someone is sitting off by themselves staring at a book. What should you do?

[StarvingButStrong]

You know, I was going to list a lot of possibilities, all the intrusive and annoying things that people have done to me, but really, guys, there's only one answer:

That person is choosing to spend the current time READING. Leave him/her the fuck ALONE!



No, you don't need to know what the title of the book is. Or the author. Or whether s/he is enjoying the book. Or whether *you* would enjoy it. (Fercrissakes, how is someone suppose to know the answer to that one?)

The Reader doesn't need to hear about how much reading you do. Or that you've never finished a book in your life. Or anything else about your life style.

The Reader wants to be allowed to READ the book right then. Maybe she's taking a night course and is behind and a test is coming. Maybe it's the most suspenseful novel ever written and she just can't wait to see how it comes out. Maybe it's just an ordinary book, but she chooses to read during her lunch hour as a relatively non-offensive way of avoiding your endless chatter about the latest trivial misadventures someone in your life brought upon themselves.

Whatever.


LEAVE THE READER ALONE, DAMMIT.

[Athena]

>>Quiz: Someone is sitting off by themselves staring at a book. What should you do?

If you're Mr. Athena, you make sure to give a running commentary of whatever you happen to be doing at the moment - what's happening on your TV show, how cute the doggies are, what you think you're going to have for a snack, etc.

Boy, I'm gonna get in trouble for posting this. Have mercy Mr. Athena! Was JOKING, really! I LIKE it when you talk to me when I read!

[Black Train Song]

Hey, maybe you're too damned cute for your own good. Maybe put a little work into looking uglier?

Who knows...I'd be complimented ....maybe.

[Tracy Lord]

Yes. Word, word, word.

I usually do fine when I read in public (on buses, at the library, in the lounge), but at home it gets awful.

SCENE: TRACY is sitting in an easy chair, wrapped in a blanket, halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel.

TRACY'S UNCLE: [walks by] What're you reading?
TRACY: [without looking up] Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
TRACY'S UNCLE: What?
TRACY: [enunciates] Jonathan. Strange. And. Mr. Norrell.
TRACY'S UNCLE: [sees book is ~800 pages long] What's it about?
TRACY: [pause] [gives TRACY'S UNCLE a Look]
TRACY'S UNCLE: I mean, what's the main idea?
TRACY: I don't know. [pointedly] I haven't finished it yet.
TRACY'S UNCLE: Are you hungry?
TRACY: No. I'm reading.
TRACY'S UNCLE: What do you want for dinner?
TRACY: Whatever the rest of the family's doing.
TRACY'S UNCLE: We were thinking about going out.
TRACY: [leaps from chair and decapitates TRACY'S UNCLE with her bookmark. Sits down and continues reading] Very clever, Arabella.

[StarvingButStrong]

Hey, maybe you're too damned cute for your own good. Maybe put a little work into looking uglier?

Who knows...I'd be complimented ....maybe.


Okay...maybe I should have specified I'm not talking about public arenas, where the idea that the main reason for being there is to meet people is not unreasonable. As in, yeah, maybe that cute chick flicking through the book while sitting at a bar is hoping to be approached, so maybe you give it a try.

I run into this problem mainly at work in the lunchroom, with a couple of motormouthed old hens who I'm reasonably certain aren't looking to talk me into a relationship with them.... No, it's pure nosiness and, possibly, an inability to bear having someone else NOT hanging on their every word. If you won't pay attention to their stories of how awful a mother/housekeeper/wife their DIL is, well then, what are YOU doing? What are you reading? Why? Tell me about it. On and on and on, until your break time is gone and your plan of getting some reading done is completely foiled. :(

One time I printed up a sheet of paper with the answers to all the usual questions written out, and handed it to one of these biddies as soon as she started in, but it did no good. She thought it was the greatest joke ever and kept on and on and on about it....


In warm weather I escape from the building, but huddling in my car in the depths of a winter snowstorm lacks appeal.

Maybe I'll make up a fake dustcover and wrap it around what I'm reading. Something like "Three Dozen Ways to Hide the Body: When You Just Can't Stand Nosy CoWorkers Any Longer."

[NinjaChick]

Aaargh! Yes!

The scene: NinjaChick is home on winter break. She's sitting at her desk or perhaps on her bed, typing away on her laptop, working on perhaps an essay, or the Great American Novel she's composing. Or, she's reading. She does these things very often. There's the unmistakable sound of her father's footsteps up the stairs, a pause, then a knock on the bedroom door. NinjaChick hopes that she can fool him into thinking she's not there. No such luck. He calls her name.

Me: What?
Him: [opens door] Whatcha up to?
Me: Uh...reading
Him: Whatcha reading?
Me: A book.
Him: What book?
Me: One that's very engaging and interesting. Now please piss off.

Actually, I don't generally say that. I usually say the first part and go back to reading. He'll stand tehre for a moment and then wander away, seemingly confused.

[StarvingButStrong]

He'll stand tehre for a moment and then wander away, seemingly confused.


Yes! That's the crux of it! The people who ask these questions are by and large NOT readers themselves. They simply can't seem to wrap their minds around the idea that someone would choose, voluntarily, to read. And not just read, but entire BOOKS.

So, obviously, interrupting you from this horrible pasttime is a favor.


The Gold Rule is mis-action yet again. :(

[DrFidelius]

Little Weasley Guy: "So, how's that book?"

Me: "Fascinating. The author is proposing that the major blame for the escalation of World War I from a Continental conflict to a 'world war' should be laid at the feet of England as it was their mis-reading of German intentions that caused their entrance."

Little Weasley Guy: "That does sound interesting, but this meeting is about how we need to have someone train a Superuser for Japan to support the new sites in Thailand and Australia. Congratulation, the flight leaves in the morning."

Sometimes it is not appropriate to be seen reading...

[ladybug]

That person is choosing to spend the current time READING. Leave him/her the fuck ALONE!

Amen! I like to read during my lunch break, but I've been interrupted on too many occasions. Some of my coworkers just ask a few questions about the book and then leave me alone. Others, unfortunately, decide they must sit with me and have a conversation right at that moment. One former coworker (emphasis on "former," thank Og) would park herself next to me every lunch hour and start bitching about how much she hated her job, even though she could clearly see I was reading. Another used to preach that my choice of literature was luring Satan to our office.

The worst, though, was when one of my supervisors started up a conversation while I was reading. If I didn't put my book down I never would have heard the end of it, so I had to listen to her prattle about her dog for 30 minutes. She also criticized me for wasting money on books -- she thought it was stupid to buy something you'd only read once. The idea of rereading books would have made her head explode.

Did I mention we're in the publishing business? ::sigh::

[betenoir]

Puts me in mind of the Quentin Crisp story (which I read about in a book) where he talks about a landlady of his who would come in to his room and comment on whatever he was doing...as in:

Sees him putting bread in a toaster:

"Ah....making toast..."

Sees him put water on to boil:

"Ah...making tea..."

Sees him staring at a book:

"Ah...waiting....

[ParentalAdvisory]

"I'm sorry, what was that?", said enough times, will get the point across.

[Queen Tonya]

Ooh, you win,ladybug!

I was going to chime in with similar cow-orker stories, but you work in publishing!? :smack:

[ParentalAdvisory]

Puts me in mind of the Quentin Crisp story (which I read about in a book) where he talks about a landlady of his who would come in to his room and comment on whatever he was doing...as in:

Sees him putting bread in a toaster:

"Ah....making toast..."

Sees him put water on to boil:

"Ah...making tea..."

Sees him staring at a book:

"Ah...waiting....


The betenoirster. The betenoirster, Makin' copies...

[Guinastasia]

. Another used to preach that my choice of literature was luring Satan to our office.




Oooh, what were you reading THEN?

[CanvasShoes]

Yes! That's the crux of it! The people who ask these questions are by and large NOT readers themselves. They simply can't seem to wrap their minds around the idea that someone would choose, voluntarily, to read. And not just read, but entire BOOKS.

So, obviously, interrupting you from this horrible pasttime is a favor.


The Gold Rule is mis-action yet again. :(Oh LORD I hate this. By the time you get rid of them, as someone has already mentioned, your lunch hour is over. Is there any way to take your break at a different time from the biddies?

And yes, as SBS says, it's invariably non readers that do this. Readers might make a comment or two "Oh, the new J. Smith novel, any good"? and then wisely shuts the hell up.

[Smeghead]

One more reason to be glad I'm a hermit...

[ultrafilter]

Bill Hicks had a joke that I think will be appreciated here:

I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And I'm alone, I'm eating and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: "<smack smack smack smack> Hey, whatchoo readin' for?"

Isn't that the weirdest fucking question you've ever heard? Not what am I readING, but what am I reading *for*? Well, godammit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well... hmmm... I dunno... I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is so I don't end up being a fucking waffle waitress.

[akennett]

My usual reply to the insufferable question "Whachya readin'?" is "Words, words, words." That way, if they get it, there's a hope that any conversation that will ensue will be worth the interruption.

[Khadaji]

I almost posted a similar thread a few months - heck, more than half a year now that I think about it. I felt like a beer (that's how I know it was more than half a year) and I felt like reading, so I took my book to a bar, bought a pitcher and sat down in a corner by myself. I was stunned at how many people stopped to chat. I don't mean to be rude, but hey, I was READING!

[Kricket]

"I'm sorry, what was that?", said enough times, will get the point across.


Not where I work.
I don't think they grasp the concept of someone being literate.
What throws them even further is that I read science fiction. Ya' know with those dark elves and such that you can never read the names of cause they are so long.
I had one girl look over my shoulder and ask why my book had a map in it, then she looked at the text and said "what in the heck is that word?"
I explaind it was a name of a character and pointed to an even longer more confusing word and said that is the name of the city he came from.
It was the Dark elf trilogy by Salvatore.
This girls eyes popped out of her head when I brought in the Icewind Dale trilogy all in one book. Big and thick.

[Naz]

Ugh. I have those coworkers. One yelled at me that I was going to hell for reading Harry Potter. Another decided I must not be Christian because I was reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Maybe I'll see ladybug there?

[Ephemera]

I have never had this happen to me that I can remember and I've always been a fairly heavy, although not voracious, reader that takes books along with me to read pretty much everywhere.

[Telperien]

Such people do not usually bother me. Perhaps it is because I usually read with a slight scowl on my face. This doesn't relate to the subject matter of the book; it's generally because I can't see as well by the afternoon or evening (when I usually end up reading where other people are) as I can in the morning. I'm squinting, and therefore scowling, so I can see what I'm reading a bit better. I apparently look like I'm going to stuff my book down the throat of anyone who dares ask me about it. When people do ask what I'm reading, I usually just hold up the cover so they can see it. This is because, like Kricket, I often read books with hard-to-pronounce words, or scary covers. There was the Jane Austen omnibus I borrowed from the library and brought to work last summer to read at lunch. It had no scary cover, but contained six novels.

"Wow! That's a big book," people would say.

"Yes," I would reply. Apparently the reading of any book over two hundred pages is a serious mental disorder.

[Askia]

I'm sure this has happened to me, but thanks to my being deaf in one ear, I have the phenomenol ability to tune people out even if they approach me with a bullhorn in an echo chamber.

So if they succeed in actually getting my attention, the book probably isn't THAT engrossing.

[betenoir]

The betenoirster. The betenoirster, Makin' copies...

Oh my lord. The conflation of Mr. Crisp's kindly old British landlady with Rob Schneider is making my brain bleed. As is reading the word betenoirister. But I probably had too much blood in there anyway :D.

[Harborwolf]

Oh LORD I hate this. By the time you get rid of them, as someone has already mentioned, your lunch hour is over. Is there any way to take your break at a different time from the biddies?


I've tried to do this myself. It never works. If I'm in the break room on lunch, three or four are in the room within minutes. Not one of them has mastered an "indoor" voice. Even if they aren't talking to me, they are trying to talk over each other. I used to use my mp3 player as a shield, but I had to turn the volume up so high that I started to worry about my hearing.


I do have one escape book. "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory" by Stephen Jay Gould. Tis a massive book, and very intimidating. One of my assistant managers asked me what I was reading. When I told him, his eyes got real big and he walked out of the room. Everyone else assumes that it's some sort of homework and leaves me alone. It's a shame I'm not in the mood to read it more often.

[Anaamika]

This happens to me all the time, but it was worse when i was a temp worker and I would bring a book to read on the mandatory lunch hours/breaks. (Honestly, I'd rather just have worked through and left earlier). Anyway, they seemed to think "Oh, the poor temp girl! We don't want to leave her alone! Let's go interrupt her, she can't possibly be enjoying reading!"

[Roland Orzabal]

This, ladies and gentleman, is why I own the Necronomicon. I cut the cover from the binding, and now I attach it using magazine-insert gummy strips to the cover of whatever novel I happen to be reading. People do not bother you when you're reading a black book called NECRONOMICON with a pentagram displayed prominently on the cover.

It works even better if you can train yourself to subconsciously mumble random snippets of whatever you're reading in a very low voice, à la Satanic spells.

[Telperien]

That may be the principle behind my friend Kasey's bringing of witchcraft books to work. Though, with the kind of folks we work with, the Jane Austen worked just as well.

[Jenaroph]

Quiz: Someone is sitting off by themselves staring at a book. What should you do?Shoot the hostage.

[JerH]

One word: headphones. Put 'em on while you read. They don't need to be connected to anything, but for some reason people interpret headphones to mean "don't bother him." At the very least, you can pretend not to hear what someone is saying.

[MissTake]

I usually don't have people asking me what I am reading, rather if I (Og forbid) don't have my nose between the pages of something I get pestered. "Where's your book?" "Library closed?" "How can you NOT have a book?" "Are you feeling okay?"

If a book I am reading is particularly engrossing, I will walk while reading back to my cubihell. That opens an entirely new line of pestering. One cow-orker will stand directly in my way hoping I'll walk right into him. Never happens, I walk around him. EVERY damn time he laughs and says he'll get me next time. Hunh? Get me? Other cow-orkers will stop me - one has even put her hand on the open book - only to ask how I can walk and read at the same time. I don't reply, I just shrug and keep walking.

During lunch I have a Norm! thing at the pub next to my office. I buy a soda, smoke, and read. Every once in a while another customer will attempt to start a conversation, but the bartenders will tell him/her that I prefer to be left alone. I like that place.

[Misnomer]

Quiz: Someone is sitting off by themselves staring at a book. What should you do?Shoot the hostage.
HA! :)

[cckerberos]

Me: "Fascinating. The author is proposing that the major blame for the escalation of World War I from a Continental conflict to a 'world war' should be laid at the feet of England as it was their mis-reading of German intentions that caused their entrance."

The Pity of War?

[danceswithcats]

Gah! What a flashback! When I was in the rehab hospital, I worked hard on rehabbing my mangled body, and in between workouts, I read. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up on all of the great stuff I'd bought, but hadn't had time to get to.

Except for the roommate issue. Roomie was one of these guys who had no interest in books, and when all of his family wasn't crowded into the room, yapping, would either watch TV while yapping on the phone, or just yap on the phone. He kept trying to interest me in the TV-"Didja see that?"

No, fuckwit. See this funny papery thing full of words? I'ts called a book, and I'm trying like hell to read it, while stifling the urge to leap outta this wheelchair on my good leg and beat you twelve ways for Topeka with your bedpan. Shut up! I swear, another week of that and I'd have rolled the wheelchair down Route 30 just to escape. :D

[Bryan Ekers]

Dave Lister, contemplating his wasted life: It's not fair. There's loads of things I've never done. Like ... I've never had a prawn vindaloo. And I've never read [pause while he searches his memory]... a book.

[EvilGhandi]

If the said reader is one Mrs EG, I would suggest that one go ahead and interupt her. At the risk of losing ones testicles.

When LoTR movies came out, I was all a titter, having read the series many times and suggested the Mrs read the books first as Zealandwood was bound to mangle the story beyond reconignition.

Imagine my suprise when she read the book in what was effectively one sitting. I have seen her read before but never anything that long. It generally takes a low yield nuclear burst to break her concentration. Pity the fool (me) who actully nudges her to get her attention with such mundane information as "honey dinner's ready."

[Bryan Ekers]

"honey dinner's ready."

Interrupted her once too often, did you?



Just kidding.

[HPL]

It works even better if you can train yourself to subconsciously mumble random snippets of whatever you're reading in a very low voice, à la Satanic spells.

Or failing that, mumble whatever in Latin. Latin sounds creepy when done right.

[Scissorjack]

{Brian Glover, from Porridge} "I read a book once. {long pause} Green, it were."

[AngelicGemma]

I don't mind people talking to me when I'm reading. I guess this is because coming from a family of readers, they will only ask a question or two. The same goes for my boyfriend.

But I can see how people who insist on talking to you for ages while you're trying to read would be very annoying.

[BiblioCat]

Anyway, they seemed to think "Oh, the poor temp girl! We don't want to leave her alone! Let's go interrupt her, she can't possibly be enjoying reading!"
I think this is the problem when it comes to non-readers. They can't wrap their tiny little minds around the fact that you'd rather read than talk with them.

I had this same problem at a place I used to work. There were about 150 employees, and there were a bunch of us Reader-types. When we encountered one another in the lunchroom, we'd smile and nod, then go back to our books and lunches. Then of course there were always the non-readers who'd come in, and just have to loudly comment on how QUIET IS WAS IN THE LUNCHROOM! You'd get a couple of them in there, cackling like hens about how we were all anti-social for sitting alone and reading. They also had no concept of "indoor voices."

[levdrakon]

Ah, the slack-jawed non-reading mouth breathers. They're like cats. If you pay attention to them, they'll likely blow you off. If they find you intently concentrating on something other than them, they can't stand it!

[eleanorigby]

I am so glad someone pitted this!

I am tortured by these people! At work, I only get about a ten minute break in the day (12 hour shift-yes, we are supposed to get more, but it really doesn't work that way-'nother thread)-and I close the lounge door, sit and READ.
It is required for my sanity.
And the aides wander in and out, and the other ancillary staff and even some other nurses and they're all like: "watcha reading?" "Is that the same book as last week?" "No? You finished a whole book in a week?!" (hell, I finish many a book in a day). "Guess you sure like to read...." any and all inane, needless remarks to keep a level of distraction and noise going.......

If and when my Vision of the World comes into being, I will walk around with a weapon of destruction, yelling,"Culling!"--these people will top the list.

[The Mermaid]

Well if I see someone sitting there staring intently at a book I walk right up to them and say, brightly, "Whatcha doin?"






What?


Or I could resort to hubby's tactics and ask them random questions every 10 minutes until they either give up in frustration, move to another place or gently place their hands around my throat and squeeze.

[Proudest Monkey]

As I read through this thread, my husband has been talking at me nonfuckingstop. It's a rambling, blah-blah-blah/toner cartridges/guess who's working at the new Lowes/did you read the paper/blah-di-blah. I nod occasionally and utter the odd "um hum" and his response is to talk EVEN LOUDER! He is still doing it as I type this. He just asked, "Whatcha doing, hon?"

I'M READING, YOU TWIT!

[Ninja Pizza Guy]

I am reading. You are not. I do not give a flying fuck that you don't read. I give even less of a flying fuck that you've never read a book you weren't forced to read in school. That you are proud of not reading is so low on my give a flying fuck meter that it doesn't even register. That you insist on tracking me down to my remote, secluded corner of the warehouse and reminding me that you don't read every few seconds, and that you don't understand how anyone can enjoy reading makes me question the value of my paycheck vs. the temporary enjoyment I'd get for beating your ass into a bloody pulp.

[violent bloody fantasy]Maybe I'll just fucking kill you and push a pile of fiberboard onto the body. Claim it was an accident.[/vbf]

[supervenusfreak]

It has been my experience that the only people who like to be interrupted when they are reading, are characters in TV shows and movies PERIOD. So back off and leave me the heck alone!

[MisterThyristor]

{Brian Glover, from Porridge} "I read a book once. {long pause} Green, it were."

Or to quote the great Durante:


But there’s one day that I recall, though it was years ago.
All my life I will remember it, I know…

I’ll never forget the day I read a book.
It was contagious, seventy pages.
There were pictures here and there
So it wasn’t hard to bear
The day I read a book.

It’s a shame I don’t recall the name of the book.
It wasn’t a history, I know because it had no plot.
It wasn’t a mystery, because nobody there got shot.
The day I read a book, I can’t remember when,
But one of these days I’m going to do it again!

I read somewhere that the average person reads about one book a year. A lot of people I talk to never read anything but magazines or newspapers, and find it hard to believe that I try to read at least a book a week.

[vibrotronica]

Q: Someone is sitting off by themselves staring at a book. What should you do?

A: Shine a small handheld laser at their eyes, blinding them. Serves them right. Smarties.


(don't blame me--blame sequential thread titles in the pit!)

[Jeep's Phoenix]

I'm absolutely convinced that the same people who bother me about my books are the same ones who think the only thing you can do with a Pocket PC or Palm Pilot is play games. I was reading my email while waiting for my meal in a restaurant, and the waitress kept laughing at me for playing a game at the table.

[ladybug]

Ooh, you win,ladybug!

I was going to chime in with similar cow-orker stories, but you work in publishing!? :smack:

Yeah, it's pretty scary when your boss, an editor, brags about not wasting money on something as useless as books.

Another used to preach that my choice of literature was luring Satan to our office.
Oooh, what were you reading THEN?

It actually happened twice. The first time I was reading the Wolverine Origin trade paperback. The second time I was reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

[ladybug]

I am reading. You are not. I do not give a flying fuck that you don't read. I give even less of a flying fuck that you've never read a book you weren't forced to read in school. That you are proud of not reading is so low on my give a flying fuck meter that it doesn't even register. That you insist on tracking me down to my remote, secluded corner of the warehouse and reminding me that you don't read every few seconds, and that you don't understand how anyone can enjoy reading makes me question the value of my paycheck vs. the temporary enjoyment I'd get for beating your ass into a bloody pulp.

If only I could fit that on a T-shirt.

:D

[Shade]

For the record, I'd be sometimes willing to be interrupted. If I'm killing time, I might easily prefer reading a book to nothing, but talking to reading a book.

A good trick is to watch for body language. If I look up and make eye contact, I'm more likely to be willing to talk. Or if I know you. Or if you ask a question and I close up the book while I answer. Or if I've deliberately chosen a public area to read in. Or if you're hot. Or if I answer at length a question.

Signs that I want you to fuck off include: saying "fuck off", grunting in response, not raising my eyes if you speak, replying to "what are you reading" by shifting position so you can see the cover, or to "what's it like" by shifting so you can see the back, the book being obviously new, a vein in my forehead throbbing.

An admittedly awkward middle ground is when I'm just at an exciting bit, when I'd LIKE to talk, but CAN'T :)

[Ninja Pizza Guy]

If only I could fit that on a T-shirt.

:D

You could have it printed on business cards and hand them out as needed.

[Beware of Doug]

she chooses to read during her lunch hour as a relatively non-offensive way of avoiding your endless chatter about the latest trivial misadventures someone in your life brought upon themselves.
Hey! Wake up to reality here, you! Don't you know that anything anyone ever DID is more important and more interesting than anything anyone ever SAID?

Isn't it obvious? We already live in the best of all possible worlds. If you find real people less interesting than made-up ones, this is clealy a sign you have no life outside your pathetic and probably sick fantasy world.

So get with the program! Work and play well with others! Be on the same page! (Note: This is a metaphor, not to be construed as encouraging Nose-In-The-Book Syndrome.)

;)

[Beware of Doug]

(Please excuse the whoosh and subsequent double post. I'm just trying to communicate what may be goig thru the mind of the type of aggressive nonreader described in this thread. I also thought it'd have more impact if I didn't explain it in the same posting...)

[Sunspace]

This, ladies and gentleman, is why I own the Necronomicon.I found that I was getting something of the same reaction when reading the Cryptonomicon on the bus last month... :)

[Greywolf73]

Ever heard this variation? "You read too much" or "You have too many books!". Apparently, my mother-in-law feels it's her personal duty to remind me of this obscure must-not-read-too-many-books law that I've somehow managed to not find out about.

The really annoying thing is, she says one of the above comments each and every time she happens to spot me reading. Every single time.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Hey, Greywolf, it's an automatic response to seeing you read, is all. You're pegged in her mind as "The one who reads too much/has too many books" and the sight of you reading triggers the blurt without passing through any conscious thought process first.

She probably has a lot of auto-responses to things in her life. Saves her the trouble of actually, you know, thinking.

[Achren]

I read somewhere that the average person reads about one book a year. A lot of people I talk to never read anything but magazines or newspapers, and find it hard to believe that I try to read at least a book a week.

One.Per.Year.

*brain shuts down*

Once, long ago, I was in my advisory/plus class (for those who don't know, it was the short period in school - about 20 or 30 minutes long. You got your grades and got announcements then). I was in my seat, by the teacher's desk, reading. She interrupted me not once, nor twice, but six times! (roughly six anyway)
At this time she was also my french teacher, so I didn't want to be outright rude. I was so happy when she let me be.


(The flip side is when say, your best friend is home from college, you go over to her (parents') house watch a movie with her sister (who's got Netflixs, woo!), and your friend is in her room, reading, with the tv on. I know some people like having sound in the background, but I thought that maybe she was just reading during the commercials and I could say a quick hi. We also like reading similar books, so I was curious what she was reading. So I say hi and ask what's she reading and get back, "A book" in a tone of voice that would indicate that I've been bothering her for hours and if I DON'T LEAVE NOW, she'll kill me.
Yeah, that was fun.
How hard would it be to say, "I'm reading X, it's good and I want to get back to it." Then I could say, "Thanks, sure." and leave.)

[Incubus]

Wow, there's a lot of hostility around here! :(

Isn't it painting people with a rather broad brush to assume that someone who talks to someone else that is reading does not read as well? Maybe they saw the book and are curious how it is. Maybe the recognized the reader from somewhere?

I am a fairly voracious reader (hell, when I'm really bored, I look up interesting words in the encylopedia/dictionary for FUN :D ) But I don't have a problem with people coming up to me. I have a fairly common ritual of eating breakfast at a nearby diner, getting a newspaper and spending the next 1-2 hours reading the entire thing, ads and all, while slowly consuming my meal. If someone ran up and sat in my booth, I'd be a bit startled, but if they were curious about what I was reading, I'd probably share it. I'd probably tell them what's on my mind- Too many kneejerk, vitriol-laden letters to the editor in the San Jose Metro, wierd letters to Dear Abby, an obituary of some professor I had in college, etc. Then again, maybe I'm just a freak, a black sheep among black sheep. If I really want to read without being disturbed, I'll read while I'm sitting on the toilet, or in my room before I go to sleep.

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't have a problem with this. :confused:

[OtakuLoki]

Regarding the OP, you have my sympathy. My solution at one workplace was quite literally the bathroom. No one bothers you in a bathroom stall. Sure the atmosphere might be a little close, but with a good book I can ignore that.

The worst experience I'd ever had of this nature was while I was doing travelling sales. First off, if you've never done travelling sales, let me say that my average day was about 10 hours, maybe 12 hours long. Secondly, driving that much really, really, really wears after a while. So, I'd make sure to take a good long lunch break when I got a little tired and stir crazy. And I'd go into a resturaunt, and read and wait til I felt like driving again. So one day I'm in the corner of a Wendy's in Cortland, NY happily reading my book, and the poor schmuck comes out to sweep and police the customer area, and he feels it is bounded duty to converse with me. First it was "Whacha reading?" And when I tried to explain his eyes glazed over. Then it was "Whacha eating?" Then he started in about how french fries are bad for you and you really shouldn't eat them. I took this for about 10 minutes then ran screaming out into my car to go back to work.

By the way, how many other Dopers believe they're reading for at least 100 people a year? :D

[NoClueBoy]

I think most of the interrupters probably simply think you're lonely.

"Why, that poor dear, sitting all alone and having to read a book because no one is talking to them..." is the most likely thing going through their head, whether conciously or not. Some people just can't fathom that one would actually choose to read when there are so many other options.

Pity them, don't hate them. They live in a smaller world than we do.

[Lok]

I usually don't have people asking me what I am reading, rather if I (Og forbid) don't have my nose between the pages of something I get pestered. "Where's your book?" "Library closed?" "How can you NOT have a book?" "Are you feeling okay?"

If a book I am reading is particularly engrossing, I will walk while reading back to my cubihell. That opens an entirely new line of pestering. One cow-orker will stand directly in my way hoping I'll walk right into him. Never happens, I walk around him. EVERY damn time he laughs and says he'll get me next time. Hunh? Get me? Other cow-orkers will stop me - one has even put her hand on the open book - only to ask how I can walk and read at the same time. I don't reply, I just shrug and keep walking.

During lunch I have a Norm! thing at the pub next to my office. I buy a soda, smoke, and read. Every once in a while another customer will attempt to start a conversation, but the bartenders will tell him/her that I prefer to be left alone. I like that place.
I work in a factory, and while the intelligence of the people there has the same range you find in most of society, they are not a highly literate group. AFter 12 years, most of them know they will see me reading a book on break. Actually, while walking to break, during the break, and walking back to the floor.

But when we get new people, after they stop being scared of me, they invariably start asking the questions. Always the same questions. I am so tired of those questions. The easy one is "How can you walk and read at the same time?" I always answer "Practice" and keep walking. Then there is the occasional "Do you read while you're driving?" "Not when it is dark."

The best was a team leader from a different department I spent a couple of months in. He had asked me how much I read, how many books I owned, why did I read, all the normal ones. A couple of years later, I am going through his department and he says hi, then he asks, "Are you still into that reading thing?" :confused: I told him, yeah, it is pretty much lifelong. :rolleyes:

Did I say how much I hate the questions?

[Broomstick]

My in-laws are like this.

My in-laws, while wonderful people on many levels, are not readers. I mean, they know how to read (well, most of 'em) but it's not something anyone does for enjoyment, it's a tool, like a screwdriver or knowing how to change the oil in your car. It took a couple visits to figure this out - I'd be reading after breakfast and they would think I'm pissed off at them or something. These are folks who have a Bible and maybe one or two other, very very practical (like, cook books or car repair) volumes in their homes (a couple don't even have that). I have something like 4,000 books and counting.

Because they are my in-laws, when I visit I take needlepoint or crocheting or knitting along as my hobby of choice. Apparently, off in a corner of the room by yourself snarling over dropped stitches is a social activiity, reading in the same corner is not. When in Rome....

Anyhow - anywhere else I do NOT have much tolerance for this at all. Fortunately, where I work at present leans heavily towards readers.

The last time I had a problem with the nosey busy-body effect it was on a business trip. There we are, at 35,000 feet in a 737. I'm reading a book. My seatmate is bored, looks over at me...

"Whatchya readin'?"
"Michael Crichton's Airframe"
"Oh? What's that about?"
"A plane crash"
Neighbor starts to look pale. "A... a.... plane crash?"
"Yeah, everybody dies. It's really fascinating, you see, they go into exactly how it happ---"
"Excuse me, I have to go powder my nose"

[Broomstick]

Although, come to think about it, the time I was in a hospital waiting room reading Terry Pratchett's Mort was amusing, too.

"Whatchya readin'?"
"Mort"
"Oh" Blank look "What's it about?"
"Death. It's pretty funny."
After that, I had half the waiting room to myself. Ah, bliss!

[Fish Cheer]

"What's it about?"

"Weeell.. there's Death, you see. And he takes a vacation. So his granddaughter.. um, er, ... nevermind."

[Jeep's Phoenix]

Ever heard this variation? "You read too much" or "You have too many books!".

I get the "too many books" thing a lot. Yet another variation of that I hear is "when are you going to read all of that?". I have three bookcases in my apartment. One is dedicated to textbooks (I keep most of mine); the others hold my book collection. I also have textbooks stored on a shelf in one of my closets, and a few computer books in a space under the computer desk. Almost all the shelves on my other bookcases are double-stacked, with paperbacks stacked up at the back and hardbacks (or larger paperbacks) lined up across the front. I also have a bookcase and a half of books in storage at my parents' house.

[TheFaerie]

If you are in sixth grade and you read, you get beat up. :rolleyes: I used to read all the time in school and the kids in my class would give me hell for reading during lunch and recess. I never went anywhere without a book.

I was in an Advanced Education type of class, with 'the smart kids'. And they were the numb-nuts who would pick on me. :confused: This was 25 years ago.

I don't read much anymore. I don't know why. Reading takes too much time away from doing other stuff. Like posting to The Dope.

[Kaspar Hauser]

I agree with Incubus. I'm a voracious reader myself -- always carry a book with me, just in case -- but being intentionally rude to people who are being UNintentionally rude seems counterproductive, and probably feeds the stereotypes about us uppity book-larnin' folk being too big for our britches.

[Anaamika]

I get the "too many books" thing a lot. Yet another variation of that I hear is "when are you going to read all of that?". .

This would make me crazy. I've read nearly all the books in my house, other than:

The bad war books that my SO owns. ("Bad" to me means absolutely no human interest).
Reference books, at least not cover to cover.
And three Robert Jordan books which I am sorry to say I have.

[HPL]

Yeah, it's pretty scary when your boss, an editor, brags about not wasting money on something as useless as books.



It actually happened twice. The first time I was reading the Wolverine Origin trade paperback. The second time I was reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It's only satanic if it's the Necronomican :)

And that boss sounds like the Evil wife from the Twlight Zone episode......."Time enough at last".

[HPL]

I think most of the interrupters probably simply think you're lonely.

"Why, that poor dear, sitting all alone and having to read a book because no one is talking to them..." is the most likely thing going through their head, whether conciously or not. Some people just can't fathom that one would actually choose to read when there are so many other options.

Pity them, don't hate them. They live in a smaller world than we do.

It makes me wonder if there's something about certain people that attracts others to intterupt them, or just certain people who have a strange urge to but it.

[slight hijack]

I feel wierd, being a bookworm myself and to my recollection, have never been interrupted in a public place. Not on the bus, in the library, on the street. Actually, I sometimes wonder if there's something about me that makes other people not want to talk to me in general.

[/end hijack]

Either that or I'm mercifully able to avoid people who want to be your best buddy and/or want to but in on you.

[Miller]

I agree with Incubus. I'm a voracious reader myself -- always carry a book with me, just in case -- but being intentionally rude to people who are being UNintentionally rude seems counterproductive, and probably feeds the stereotypes about us uppity book-larnin' folk being too big for our britches.

I live for that stereotype.

[FisherQueen]

My former roommate (may she be frequently blessed) told me that she'd quickly picked up on the cue. If she came into the room and said hi and I stuck a bookmark in my book, it meant I was open for talking. No bookmark meant that, while I'd give her a friendly greeting, I wanted to go back to my book.

[Cervaise]

I get the "too many books" thing a lot.There is no such thing as "too many books" in exactly the same way as there is no such thing as "too much garlic."

Years ago, I stumbled across what seemed like the perfect response to the "whatcha reading?" inquiry and subsequent undesired interrogation. It was a moment of pure snark, and I have not had the opportunity to subject the method to repeated testing to ensure its effectiveness. It was a one-time-only event, apparently, and considering I no longer eat in the break room and now do my reading in the bathroom, the circumstances are quite a bit less likely to arise. But perhaps others here can give it a shot.

Because it was many years ago, I don't remember exactly what I was reading. But it was in a company break room, and I was surrounded by people who view books as instruments of torture and doorstoppage. I shall use one of the books I'm currently reading in place of the actual example, for illustration.

Me, at a break room table: Reading quietly.

Guy: Staring at me.

Me: Continues reading, feeling the guy staring at me.

Guy: Continues staring at me.

Me: Having trouble concentrating, trying to ignore guy.

Guy: "Hey, what're ya readin' there?"

Me, out loud, straight from the book, right where I was at when he asked: "—notes that there are Andean sulfur mines at fifty eight hundred meters, but that the miners prefer to descend four hundred and sixty meters each evening and climb back up the following day, rather than live continuously at that elevation."

Guy: Staring at me.

Me, continuing to read, not expressing the snark I feel, just simple and dull, like an NPR commentator: "People who habitually live at altitude have often spent thousands of years developing disproportionately large chests and lungs, increasing their density of oxygen-bearing red blood cells by almost a third, though there are limits to how much thickening with red cells the blood supply can stand. Moreover, above fifty five hundred meters even the most well-adapted women..."

Guy: Fidgets, looks around.

Me: "If I'm boring you, I'll stop."

Guy: "Yeah, uh, okay... see you later." Leaves.

Me: Goes back to reading in blissful silence and solitude.

Hey, you never know. Give it a shot. :)

[Scarlett67]

I've been following this thread with interest. Unfortunately, I don't have as much time for pleasure reading as I used to, but I well remember the days at my "real job," where most of my co-workers were nasty gossipy twits. I was forced to listen to their blather during work hours, but my 15-minute lunch break was a blissful respite during which I sat in my car or the break room, off by myself, nose in whatever I was reading at the time.

At one point a personal dispute with the most shrill of these knuckle-draggers came to such a head that there was a meeting between her, me, and the boss. At one point she yelled (yes, yelled) that I always took my lunch break alone, reading a book, instead of joining the airheads at the gossip table -- this offered as "proof" of my intractability as a co-worker. I responded (and the boss agreed) that what I did with my 15 minutes was my own choice. I did not mention the part about blissful respite.

I mean, Jesus H. -- you hate me and yet you're pissed that I don't eat lunch with you? (The day I quit that job was quite joyous.)

There is no such thing as "too many books" in exactly the same way as there is no such thing as "too much garlic."
Say, do you happen to have the other half of this amulet?

Years ago, I stumbled across what seemed like the perfect response to the "whatcha reading?" inquiry and subsequent undesired interrogation.
It was perfect. I'll have to remember that one.

Scarlett, whose checks display the line "So many books, so little time"

[BiblioCat]

[slight hijack]

I feel wierd, being a bookworm myself and to my recollection, have never been interrupted in a public place. Not on the bus, in the library, on the street. Actually, I sometimes wonder if there's something about me that makes other people not want to talk to me in general.

[/end hijack]I've never had a stranger interrupt me, but if I'm someplace where I know people, they do it all the time.
When my kids were in the church choir, I looked at their rehearsal time as an hour of reading time for me. Most of the parents that hung around and waited would gather at one end of the hallway and chat. I would go off and find a quiet corner or an unused room to sit and read. Invariably, someone would seek me out, thinking I needed someone to talk to. After all, all I was doing was reading.


I used to always get the "too many books" thing from my MIL. She was just amazed that I'd read "all those books" and couldn't understand why I kept them. She couldn't fathom the idea that someone would want to read a book more than once.

[Pho King]

I almost never get people bugging me about what I am reading. It's probably because #1 on the list that follows or I just don't look like I'm going to be an interesting conversationalist.


Some Tips To Get People To Leave You Alone While You Are Reading*:


1) I second wearing headphones while you are reading. You might get a person who asks you how can you can listen to music and read at the same time at worst.

2) Pretend you are a stereotypical teenager and talk like one.

3) Mumble

4) As soon as you detect that this person is not going to shut up, describe the book in intimate detail. Ramble on about symbolism and literary style. Make up stuff if you have to.

5) Pretend your jaw is wired shut. This works best on either someone you have no chance of seeing again or someone you see every day.

6) Look the person in the eye and grin without blinking or shifting your gaze.

*Only to be used on those people who will not leave you alone.


Cervaise, A Short History of Nearly Everything?

[Jenaroph]

I took this for about 10 minutes then ran screaming out into my car to go back to work.

Did you really scream? Like, waving your arms over your head and everything? 'Cause, that would be cool.

[TonyF]

One word: headphones. Put 'em on while you read. They don't need to be connected to anything, but for some reason people interpret headphones to mean "don't bother him." At the very least, you can pretend not to hear what someone is saying.
Ugh, I hear ya, but it just doesn't work for me.

Moreover, I read "weird" stuff - technical manuals, math books, etc. I'm often asked whether I'm studying or not, and when I respond that, indeed, I like reading such things for fun, I get a lot of :confused: in response.


Everyone just loves to interrupt me.

I'll be reading - "Hey Tony! Whatcha readin'?"

*I'll be sleeping and I get the wonderful - "Hey Tony! You awake?"

I'll be watching a gripping show - "Hey Tony! Whatcha watchin'? Looks goofy, haha!"

*hence rule #1 for my girlfriend, never ask if I'm sleeping. The answer is always yes while I am laying down, even if I seem to be awake. I am up when I am not interacting with the dream world.

[Broomstick]

Me, out loud, straight from the book, right where I was at when he asked: "—notes that there are Andean sulfur mines at fifty eight hundred meters, but that the miners prefer to descend four hundred and sixty meters each evening and climb back up the following day, rather than live continuously at that elevation."

Guy: Staring at me.

Me, continuing to read, not expressing the snark I feel, just simple and dull, like an NPR commentator: "People who habitually live at altitude have often spent thousands of years developing disproportionately large chests and lungs, increasing their density of oxygen-bearing red blood cells by almost a third, though there are limits to how much thickening with red cells the blood supply can stand. Moreover, above fifty five hundred meters even the most well-adapted women..."
Was that from Children of Prometheus? I really enjoyed that book....

[manx]

My old flatmate was like this. She was reasonably well read, she just wasn't as fanatical as I am about reading, nor did she see the point of buying books, when you can just get them out of the library. She'd come home, and I'd be sacked on the couch, reading.
Her: 'What are you reading?'
Me: 'A Fine Balance'
'Is it good? What's it about?'
'Yea. Um, India.'
'Oh. I read a Wilbur Smith book like that bla bla bla...'

Every. Single. Time. I flatted with her for a year and she never ever just walked away after the beginning of the above exchange. She'd wander on into subjects like dinner, or her cat, or blah blah blah. I told her more than once 'You know I'm not actually listening, right?'.

My mother doesn't interupt me when I'm reading, but she doesn't understand reading on the computer, and so if I'm not actually typing, she'll keep talking to me, even though I'm just replying 'uh'.

Luckily I take my work breaks with a coworker who is also a reader. We sit and eat noodles, in silence, reading our books. Its very relaxing, and at the end of half an hour we'll ask eachother how our books are going, which often leads to a plesant conversation.

[CanvasShoes]

Wow, there's a lot of hostility around here! :(

Isn't it painting people with a rather broad brush to assume that someone who talks to someone else that is reading does not read as well? Maybe they saw the book and are curious how it is. Maybe the recognized the reader from somewhere?
They usually identify themselves as such. If not by saying some of the things others here have shared such as "I don't like reading" etc, but just in the "GOoollDURN" hyuuck, hyuuuck astonished tone they have when questioning you.

I'm trying to think of a good analogy as to why it's rude, not to merely ask a question or two, but the type that JUST DO NOT GET IT and keep ON trying to interrupt you when you've made it quite clear, short of slamming your foot into their gaping maw.........

How 'bout this one. You're really very very hungry, and you've FINALLY gotten a chance to eat lunch, but someone sits down and keeps moving the food away from you for several minutes at a time so that your eating takes on a disjointed atmosphere, and your hunger is not really being satisfied.

Sorry, that's probably pretty poor, I have a headache, but it's sort of along similar lines. We're "hungry" for the entertainment and escape that books bring, it doesn't make us antisocial, it's no more odd than someone watching a movie for entertainment. And as someone else said, there are going to be times where we're perfectly willing to put down the book and converse.

Another poster lines out the whens and whys of that quite nicely above.

It's just that, it's OUR lunch hour we'd like to unplug and relax away from work, and often, that especially means our coworkers.

[elfbabe]

"Moreover, above fifty five hundred meters even the most well-adapted women..."

Don't leave us hanging! Even the most well-adapted women what?
:confused:

[Angua]

By the way, how many other Dopers believe they're reading for at least 100 people a year? :D

Yep! Admittedly the SO is probably reading for at least 200 people, but still.

My mother believes I have too many books. No I don't, I merely have one and a half large bookshelves of books. That is not a lot of books. I get reminded of this every single time I have to move.

Furthermore, if I am reading, do not interrupt me. I couldn't give a flying fuck if this thing you're watching on the TV is the best thing ever, I do not care. At all Leave me alone, and let me read my book. Grrr.

The worst thing was when I was at the parents' house over Christmas; I went to buy a newspaper, and my dad was with me. I picked up newspaper, and took it to the cash register. Dad's comment, "what are you buying that for?"

Me: "Well, its a newspaper, I'd really rather like to read it".

Dad: "But isn't it a bit big?"

Bear in mind this was a weekday edition of the Guardian. Not that much of a read, really. It just annoys me slightly that I've been a voracious and avid reader since I was really rather young. My parents still haven't figured out that I prefer a book to almost anything else.

[Shade]

Dad: "But isn't it a bit big?"

Bear in mind this was a weekday edition of the Guardian. Not that much of a read, really. It just annoys me slightly that I've been a voracious and avid reader since I was really rather young. My parents still haven't figured out that I prefer a book to almost anything else.Besides, it costs very little, who cares if you did just want to read some of it. But, I'm wondering what he THOUGHT you were going to do with it :D

[Angua]

Besides, it costs very little, who cares if you did just want to read some of it. But, I'm wondering what he THOUGHT you were going to do with it :D

Meh, I think its the fact that its a "broadsheet" rather than anything else.

[Zonyx]

This happens to me all the time, but it was worse when i was a temp worker and I would bring a book to read on the mandatory lunch hours/breaks. (Honestly, I'd rather just have worked through and left earlier). Anyway, they seemed to think "Oh, the poor temp girl! We don't want to leave her alone! Let's go interrupt her, she can't possibly be enjoying reading!"

Yes, that's exactly it. People see a person reading and think that it's only because they have nothing better to do and then they feel compelled to "save them from themselves".
They can never comprehend that people might just be reading because they enjoy it instead of 'cause they're sad bastards with noone to talk to.

[Shade]

Meh, I think its the fact that its a "broadsheet" rather than anything else.Oh, well, if he meant big in WIDTH not WORDS, then I'm inclined to agree. Apologies to both :) I know I *should* be able to cope with broadsheets, but I find the smaller size so much easier. Regardless of what's in it.

[js_africanus]

I run into this problem mainly at work in the lunchroom, with a couple of motormouthed old hens who I'm reasonably certain aren't looking to talk me into a relationship with them....
It could also be that you are the only interesting thing in their miserable lives and they're just hoping for a few moments of relief, if only you'd share yourself with them just a little.

[velvetjones]

Not only should you talk to them continually to interrupt their reading but if they're so absorbed in the book that they don't hear you at first you should get extremely offended and pout because you're being ignored. This should be obvious.

Follow with statements like : You don't love me anymore. :( You never talk to me. You're shutting me out.

fortunately, I divorced that one. Present Mr. J understands that I get absorbed because he's a sweetie.

[a35362]

You could have it printed on business cards and hand them out as needed.

But...but...then they'd have to READ the card! :eek: :D

[Cervaise]

Don't leave us hanging! Even the most well-adapted women what?Pho King got the title: It's A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. If you'd like to know what well-adapted women can do, I'm on page 258. :p

[SusanStoHelit]

Or to quote the great Durante:



I read somewhere that the average person reads about one book a year. A lot of people I talk to never read anything but magazines or newspapers, and find it hard to believe that I try to read at least a book a week.

cite (http://www.nea.gov/news/news04/ReadingAtRisk.html). And these people are allowed to vote and breed?

[SusanStoHelit]

When I was in high school, I used to house-sit quite a bit, as most people assume that a bookworm doesn't know how to party and is thus more responsible than your average teen :dubious: .

One of the houses I watched was that of a local pharmacist, his college-educated artist wife, and their two honor-student sons. One night I finished my book and decided to go rummaging through their bookcases for new material. No bookcases. ooookay, let's just go check the boys' rooms. No books. Some magazines ;) , but no books. Master bedroom? Nada. Kitchen? One cookbook and an old bible. Garage? A pharmacy text.

I put the pharmacy book with the cookbook beside me on the couch and shivered. It was the creepiest house I ever watched, and that included the double-wide trailer 20 miles out of town.

[Dung Beetle]

I have something like 4,000 books and counting.


Please let me know what year will be convenient for me to come and stay with you.

[Maeglin]

Or failing that, mumble whatever in Latin. Latin sounds creepy when done right.

Funny you should mention that. I do end up reading quite a bit in Latin, and most of it is poetry. I have to at least mutter it out loud to get its full sense. Sometimes the subway in the morning is not really the best place to do it.

I don't even know whether or not I am "doing it right," but damn, former roommates and random people have told me that it is pretty creepy.

[CanvasShoes]

I put the pharmacy book with the cookbook beside me on the couch and shivered. It was the creepiest house I ever watched, and that included the double-wide trailer 20 miles out of town.It's okay. Here's a hug. :D

I know what you mean though. When I find myself in that situation, I'm at first confused (maybe I just didn't SEE the library or bookcase?) so I look again in the obvious places, as if books will magically appear where none were before.

Then, as it becomes obvious that not even an old reader's digest exists, yeah it's weird and creepy.

[The Hamster King]

I put the pharmacy book with the cookbook beside me on the couch and shivered. It was the creepiest house I ever watched, and that included the double-wide trailer 20 miles out of town.


LOL, I had the same experience house-sitting for a coworker many years ago. No books or magazine or newspapers anywhere in the house. And even his small videotape collection was the most bland and generic stuff imaginable -- only mainstream Hollywood junk like Pretty Woman. It really creeped me out.

[BiblioCat]

No bookcases. ooookay, let's just go check the boys' rooms. No books. Some magazines ;) , but no books. Master bedroom? Nada. Kitchen? One cookbook and an old bible

...It was the creepiest house I ever watched, and that included the double-wide trailer 20 miles out of town.
My in-laws have no books in their house. There might be a Bible, and maybe a car-repair manual and one or two cookbooks, but other than that, no books at all. There aren't even any magazines or newspapers.

[StarvingButStrong]

My in-laws have no books in their house. There might be a Bible, and maybe a car-repair manual and one or two cookbooks, but other than that, no books at all. There aren't even any magazines or newspapers.


That's my Aunt Helen's house!

She calls books/mags/papers "dustcatchers" and won't tolerate them in the house. In fact, my uncle had to learn to grab his paper and not set it down until he was finished -- the times he was interrupted, like to answer the phone, he'd come back and she'd have already taken the paper out to the garage to get it out of her house. <<shudder>>


Now, me, I have seven bookcases.









In our bedroom.









Okay, one of them is for dvds. But then there's five more bookcases in the living room, two in kitchen, three in the 'spare' bedroom. Also the ones we improvised in the basement stairwells..... Has anyone else done that? Break through the wallboard to open up the wall space, add 2X4 shelves between the studs, and put some sort of ornamental framing around the entire opening? If you do the entire staircase wall you get roughly 12' by 8' tall of bookcases, and the depth is just fine for ordinary paperbacks.

[Scarlett67]

Has anyone else done that? Break through the wallboard to open up the wall space, add 2X4 shelves between the studs, and put some sort of ornamental framing around the entire opening?
You've just described one of our living room walls.

[CanvasShoes]

You've just described one of our living room walls.
Dammit, I'm so jealous. I had to give away all of my books when I left last year for Texas. Now I'm catching up financially and otherwise and only live in a little studio apt. So far only 20 or so books in the 5 months since I've been back.

Anyone got any good ideas for space saving shelving in a small room?

[The Asbestos Mango]

I often carry a Bible with me if I'm out running around- my main form of transportation is the bus, and having something to read when you're waiting for a bus/on a long bus ride is a good thing, and even better if it's the Good Book.

Reading the Bible on a bus is an extremely hazardous activity. You tend to attract some of the stranger Fund'ist types who, apparently, never got Luther's memo that a person can and should be allowed to read the Bible for him/herself.

So, I become a magnet for the Word Faith guy who wants to expound on how by applying the principles in God's Word, I can become fabulously wealthy, the KJVonly guy who informs me that the King James Version is the only Truly Inspired edition, and reading a modern English translation will cause my soul to be sucked through the pages directly into Hell, and on and on...

What really frosts my ovaries is, after I've mumbled my polite replies and tried to go back to my reading, they can't seem to grok that I would like to read the Bible for myself, and am not in the mood for exegesis, they continue to expound, I mumble politely again and lower my head toward the open Book, then, after continued interruptions, finally turn my shoulder to them and face the window, they get all huffy and make sulky comments like, "Oh, you don't want to talk to me" or somesuch.

Well, actually, no, I don't want to talk to you. I have found through painful experience that trying to engage in meaningful dialog with some of my farther-out bretheren is unproductive at best, counterproductive at worst, and in any case if I wanted to engage in conversation, I wouldn't have my nose stuck in a Bible.

[Cervaise]

they can't seem to grok that I would like to read the Bible for myselfIt's risky, but you could fix them with an odd stare and say, "I read the book to know my enemy." Then stare at them silently until they go away.


I know they're not the enemy. But it'll get them off your back.

[Ninja Pizza Guy]

But...but...then they'd have to READ the card! :eek: :D

Read it to them. In your choice of A: absolutely flat, uninflected monotone, or B: a deep, snarly voice. Or over the intercom.

[Dung Beetle]

My in-laws have no books in their house. There might be a Bible, and maybe a car-repair manual and one or two cookbooks, but other than that, no books at all. There aren't even any magazines or newspapers.
My mother's house! I have never been 100% sure that I was not adopted. :(

[Scarlett67]

My mother's house! I have never been 100% sure that I was not adopted. :(
Well, my parent's house isn't completely devoid of books, but neither are there very many. I recall having a small bookcase in my room with hand-me-downs, a few used books from Goodwill, etc. when I was a kid. We also had a set of encyclopedias, a bunch of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, a set of hardcover "children's books" (Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, Black Beauty, etc.). All semi-commercialized, "standard" books, nothing that said much about the person who might read them. I was a prodigy (early reader, skipped a grade) and yet I recall no parent-sponsored trips to the library, and we Did Not BUY Books at a bookstore. I did not discover the joy of bookstores until I met Mr. S, who was a frequenter of them. Now that we kids are out of the house, you might find a few paperbacks around the place, but that's it. Oh, and kiddie books for the grandkids.

My mother's family are not pleasure readers; in fact, they seem to revel in their ignorance. However, my father's side is the opposite. I used to love going out to "the cabin" on my grandparents' land, with its little bed and woodstove and wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, overflowing bookshelves. When I was told that my aunts and uncles used to take encyclopedia volumes to bed with them, I knew I wasn't adopted because I used to do the very same thing.

[Alonzo John Blitz]

I too, am a Constant Reader.

Six years ago I moved from a very large city (6 million) to a very small town (1024). I go out for lunch nearly every day and this town only has five restaurants (four in the winter), so I was subjected to the litany of interruptions mentioned in this thread. As time has passed I have become somewhat of a fixture - 'Oh, Alonzo? He's a bit cracked. Best let him be.'

The interruptions never really bothered me as they gave me an opportunity to get to know my new neighbors. Every now and then someone will still talk to me when I'm reading. When they do, I put down the book and have a word or two with them. Hey, I've got to play poker with these folks.

By the way, I've gotten some great book/author leads from SDMB, including Neal Stephenson. I'm on my way now to Amazon to check out Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel. Thanks!