# Do people look at you askance because you like to read books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217 "2012-08-21T21:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/41 "2012-08-23T00:26:29Z")
I don’t think anyone has ever looked at me askance for reading books. People are interested sometimes, and I’ll chat about it. In a waiting room, I can read, watch TV, or sit quietly with my thoughts. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Maybe I’m completely oblivious, but I have never in my life gotten a weird stare for reading a book or doing a crossword or whatever. Never. In all the cities I’ve lived in, it was commonplace to read while commuting on your bus/subway/tram/etc. It would never occur to me that anyone would find this odd. Yeah, it sounds weird to me, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/42 "2012-08-23T00:31:41Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > How I love you all. Ha! I just read those same bits to my wife. Speaking of which, one of the first things I learned about my wife that enamored me of her was that - like me - her grade school teachers searched her bag every day for contraband fiction. Today is our 25th anniversary (woo hoo!) and we still carry books with us everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/43 "2012-08-23T01:07:59Z")
Ha. I used to get grounded from recreational reading. I was allowed to read textbooks and other schoolwork, but NO RECREATIONAL READING. Especially science fiction. I didn’t watch much TV, I almost never talked on the phone, and my parents almost never allowed us kids to go out without them anyway. So they had to ground me from reading. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/44 "2012-08-23T01:20:34Z")
No. I suspect this only comes up when people are reading at times that others are being sociable and reading is like putting a book in front of your face and saying “I do NOT want to talk to you.” Which is fine if that’s the impression you want to give, but don’t complain if they call you on it. > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Oh hell yes. Especially my in-laws. My husband and daughter and I were over at their house, some years ago, and everyone was entranced by the crap that was on TV. I dug one of the books out of my purse and started reading. MIL and FIL asked if I was just too good to watch TV. I said no, I just wasn’t interested in most TV, and especially not whatever was currently on (a sitcom of some sort, with the typical idiot plot). That’s really rather rude. Their question and your response both. Though, did they really ask if you were too good to watch TV or is that just your parsing after many years have passed? I mean, sometimes you’ll watch crappy TV as a group because it’s something you can talk over in the quiet bits and make comments about - it doesn’t have to all be “watch this and focus on nothing else ever!” But your book? That’s just for you. > [@tdn](#): > > I have to wonder where you guys live that you’re getting this. > > Although I was once talking to my ex-boss about packing for vacations. I tend to pack a lot, and have a ginormous suitcase that’s usually packed to the gills. ex-boss said that she’d just shove a sarong in her purse and go. She asked what all I packed, and I mentioned books, among other things. “Books?!? What do you need with books?!?” Well, depends on the holidays she’s used to. I’ve often heard of people taking books on holidays - I mean, there’s the whole airport novel phenomenon - but when I’m on holiday it’s to see new things and spend time with my loved ones. And I read a lot by any standards. So I used to pack books but they’d always come back unread because I had too many other things to do. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/45 "2012-08-23T02:01:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m a little dumbfounded by the question. No, because I don’t hang around with 10-year-old bullies. Hahaaa! Love Rhombus actually had someone say, “Books are stupid”. WTF?? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/46 "2012-08-23T02:18:19Z")
Obligatory Bill Hicks quote: “I was in Nashville, Tennessee last weekend and after the show I went to a waffle house and I’m sitting there and I’m eating and reading a book. I don’t know anybody, I’m alone, I’m eating and I’m reading a book. This waitress comes over to me (mocks chewing gum) : “what you readin’ for?”… Wow, I’ve never been asked that. Not “What am I reading ?”, “What am I reading _for_?” Well, goddamnit, you stumped me. I guess I read for a lot of reasons — the main one is so I don’t end up being a fuckin’ waffle waitress. Yeah, that would be pretty high on the list. Then this trucker in the booth next to me gets up, stands over me and says “Weeell, looks like we got ourselves a readah”. What the fuck’s goin’ on ?! It’s like I walked into a Klan rally in a Boy George costume or something. Am I stepping out of some intellectual closet here ? I read, there, I said it. I feel better.” ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/47 "2012-08-23T02:40:34Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Still, I don’t go to a dinner party at a friends house without a book in my jacket in case everybody dies and I have to spend a quiet bit waiting for the police to arrive. I KNOW, right?! I hate that. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/48 "2012-08-23T02:52:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Maybe I’m completely oblivious, but I have never in my life gotten a weird stare for reading a book or doing a crossword or whatever. Never. In all the cities I’ve lived in, it was commonplace to read while commuting on your bus/subway/tram/etc. It would never occur to me that anyone would find this odd. Yeah, I’m with you. Never ever have I gotten a weird look because I was reading, or had a negative comment if I bring up a book in conversation. These days, a lot of people on the train are looking at their phones, but plenty are reading their e-readers or regular books. It’s pretty normal behavior and no one blinks at it. ---
**Author:** ![slm2955](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c6cbf5/32.png) [@slm2955](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slm2955)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/49 "2012-08-23T04:56:42Z")
Nope ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/50 "2012-08-23T05:16:35Z")
Never. I was really weird as a kid so me constantly reading was the most “normal” thing about me. When in the military I had a reputation as the guy always reading, but it wasn’t in a mocking manner. Now that I’m in college, and a history major at that, it’s pretty expected. Sometimes my friends in the sciences will be shocked that I read so much because they don’t have to. I did laugh when one of my friends, and engineer, told me that a couple of his other engineer buddies was in one of my history classes and dropped once they found out that they needed to read five books in ten weeks. I laughed and said that the reading load is on par with other history classes. And I take three of them a quarter. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/51 "2012-08-23T06:22:53Z")
A couple of assignments ago, I was hassled slightly by a co-worker who was a bit amazed that I always had a book with me, and read it at lunch and on breaks. She started reading one of the Tattooed Girl books, and she was very proud of how thick it was. Well, good for you! An avowed tv junky reading a book - yay! (No sarcasm at all - seriously, good for her.) I come from a reading family - I’ve never been ashamed of my two-book a week habit. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MaltLiquor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@MaltLiquor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaltLiquor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/52 "2012-08-23T07:01:35Z")
I will leave with this drunken thought. If you can count how many books you have read, then you haven’t read anything. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/53 "2012-08-23T10:11:25Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Ha. I used to get grounded from recreational reading. I was allowed to read textbooks and other schoolwork, but NO RECREATIONAL READING. Especially science fiction. I didn’t watch much TV, I almost never talked on the phone, and my parents almost never allowed us kids to go out without them anyway. So they had to ground me from reading. Hah, me too. My parents took away my library card because I got in trouble in school (for reading instead of paying attention in math class). My classmates were rather amused by that, actually. I think reading on the train is a very common activity because, geez, what else is there to do? I imagine a lot of folks who don’t read recreationally per se will get a hold of an interesting book to pass the time while they’re on the train until they can do something else. As opposed to those of us who might just sit down and read _because_ it’s something we want to do. Because sometimes the alternative, as mentioned several times in this thread, is to stare blankly at each other. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/54 "2012-08-23T11:00:48Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s really rather rude. Their question and your response both. Though, did they really ask if you were too good to watch TV or is that just your parsing after many years have passed? > > I mean, sometimes you’ll watch crappy TV as a group because it’s something you can talk over in the quiet bits and make comments about - it doesn’t have to all be “watch this and focus on nothing else ever!” But your book? That’s just for you. Basically, yes, they were constantly asking if I thought I was too brainy to watch TV. Neither of them went to high school, though I will give them credit, they both got their GEDs in their forties. FIL had to get his GED in order to keep his job, and MIL got hers because she was helping him study, and she figured that she might as well take the test as well. It was really a cultural thing…they were accustomed to having the TV on from the moment they woke up until everyone went to bed. They took the Sunday newspaper for the TV listings and ads, but otherwise didn’t read it. In fact, the only book that I ever saw in their house was the Bible. They did have textbooks around, but those were for their granddaughter who lived with them, and nobody touched those books except for study. The thing is, if someone asks me to come over for a visit, I do expect to visit with them. I don’t expect them to turn on Three’s Company and watch that instead of talking to me. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/55 "2012-08-23T12:09:40Z")
Cool, another thread about how awesome we are and how we should pity the less intelligent masses. It has been at least a couple of hours since the last one. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/56 "2012-08-23T12:18:10Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Cool, another thread about how awesome we are and how we should pity the less intelligent masses. It has been at least a couple of hours since the last one. Next thread: Do people look at you askance because you like to thread-shit?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/57 "2012-08-23T12:23:59Z")
To all of you hard core readers: please come and live with me at my house. 🙂 Bring your books. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/58 "2012-08-23T12:41:03Z")
No, I don’t think so. Or maybe they do, but I don’t notice because I’ve got my nose in a book. In my experience, most people see reading as a positive activity. Personally, I come from a family of readers. My parents and all three of my sisters are always reading something. My husband’s parents are avid readers as well, but for some reason it didn’t really get passed on to their kids. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/59 "2012-08-23T12:48:51Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > No, I don’t think so. Or maybe they do, but I don’t notice because I’ve got my nose in a book. In my experience, most people see reading as a positive activity. Personally, I come from a family of readers. My parents and all three of my sisters are always reading something. My husband’s parents are avid readers as well, but for some reason it didn’t really get passed on to their kids. That’s partly it, too. My mother read, but she rarely read fiction. And she absolutely looked down on my sci-fi and fantasy; two of the loves of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217/60 "2012-08-23T14:02:13Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > More when I was younger. The general negative reaction (when I get one) is “You read… for _fun?_” > > I still get a bit of that nowadays, but the general tone is more of just head-shaking acceptance than anything else. I generally look at my co-workers who speak with quivering anticipation of their next trip to the gym to pump iron or to go out and play sports with a similar reaction. Both activities are, to me, at best a necessary commitment, something that I have to do because I am obligated to do so, while reading is something that is relaxing and fun for me. So I can understand how they feel that way, they’re just geeks about different activities than I am. I used to get negative reactions, not about reading in general, but about the material I was reading especially if it were something lightweight…“If you’re going to READ, why would you waste you time with THAT, why not read something IMPORTANT”…like “if you want to climb mountains why not climb Everest instead of scaling that little hill”. By explanation I would go with the “movie analogy” “Hey, YOU like movies alot don’t you?” “Yes” “And I bet sometimes you’re in the mood for a deep “important” movie and sometimes you’re in the mood for fluff, right?” “Yes” “Well, I don’t really like movies. On a rainy afternoon when you might think of watching DVDs, I would rather read a book. Just like you might be in mood for different types of movies, I might be in the mood for different types of books. I imagine my books are like your movies…when I read a novel the actual act of reading is effortless and happens on a subconscious level, what I am really doing is seeing the story play out in my head, with my performers and sets and at a pace that works for me.” In fact, this is one of the reasons I don’t like movies, I don’t have the control over the same elements that I do with books." And they still usually don’t get it, but I feel better for trying. Of course, now that I use the Kindle exclusively this doesn’t happen much, since no one can see what I’m reading [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-look-at-you-askance-because-you-like-to-read-books/632217.md?page=4)