Some people don’t mean to be rude. That doesn’t mean they aren’t being rude; it just means they haven’t been raised right 
or simply don’t know all the social trip wires that are out there.
The fact that you asked if he minded if you kept reading means you’re in the clear, as far as not being a jerk. If you hadn’t asked, then yeah, I could see that being kinda rude. But you engaged him with a “good morning” and showed respect for yourself and him. You were being assertive, not jerkish.
I once read an essay how reading is perceived differently in Middle-Eastern culture. people there, in general, see books as a way to study, but not as a way to be entertained. The sale of fiction there is very, very low. If they want to be entertained, they seek out company; friends, family. A guy reading a book over there is seen as lonely and in need of being rescued by warm small talk and company.
It must be a nightmare for truly introverted people. The only way they can be with their own thoughts in company is during prayer, which, luckily, is five times a day. 
All this is assuming your companion was, in fact, Middle-eastern.
So you could have thanked him for his company, chatted a couple minutes, then said you wanted to take off to go read somewhere by yourself, a qaint American culture thing.
Humm - well, I’m a book lover and I enjoy reading to relax as much as the next guy; however, I think you were a bit rude.
Not ‘Obnoxious, OHMAGAWD were you raised in a barn’ rude, but perhaps a bit less friendish than you could have been. I suppose I can see your point of view about wanting to read your book. On the other hand, I’ve been in a situation where I’m a place that I know 3 other people in the whole country and I can find that kind of isolation a bit overwhelming too. I confess had I been in his place, seeing one of the 3 people I know in Random Location X I may have come over and sat with you as well. I guess I’ve never been SO engrossed in a book that I couldn’t put it down for 15 minutes to have a meal with someone. I WOULD have curtailed the work talk though.
Now, with all that out of the way - go outside and enjoy your book and your day. I think it’s a totally different thing to be sitting on a bench reading than sitting at a dining table reading. One is a perfectly normal activity and the other one would get the book confiscated by certain elderly members of my family. If you’re approached I think it’s totally cool to mention how much you’ve been looking forward to your book all week and you’ll catch up with people tomorrow or whatever.
I kinda side with Maastricht and alice on this one - there was no real earthly reason you couldn’t have spared a few minutes in a little social interaction (and deliberately avoiding work talk) then taken your leave with “I’ve been looking forward to reading this all week, please excuse me. Have a good day” or something similar. But you weren’t a jerk, you were in the middle of something and made it quite clear to him from the start instead of a slew of non-verbal passive-aggressive cues during a one-sided conversation.
That having been said, the fellow was definitely too forward, especially at a two-seat table. It would have been nice of him to ask first and see if you were willing to have company rather than just assuming it was OK because you’re co-workers or whatever. Maybe a quick “I didn’t mean that personally Friday morning; I was just enjoying the book immensely and had been looking forward to it all week” might go a long way towards alleviating any possible friction.
You might have been a little rude, but he was more out of line by not asking if it was OK to sit down at your table (unless there were no other seats left, and I see nothing in the OP indicating that). However, as Starving Artist points out, we all have to keep society, well, social. It may have gone better if, instead of saying “I’m just going to keep on reading”, you had said something a little more enthusiastic, while at the same time acknowledging his presence. Something like “Hey, good morning! I’m really getting into this book now, and I get so little time to read! So I’m just going to keep reading, feel free to enjoy your breakfast here where the view is good!” (or whatever; you get my drift). This would make it sound more like you would talk to him if you weren’t enjoying your book so damned much, and stuff like that.
madmonk28, I think the simplest thing is to just let this guy know that you are a monk, and that you’re mad.
I think it was totally rude.
Try this from another perspective. You are employees, thrown together for a short time. The guy comes down to breakfast, and sees his current work colleague sitting at a table on his own. He thinks,
“Damn, I couldnt be bothered with chit chat today, but if I sit at a different table he is going to think I just didnt want to sit with HIM. He will get pissy, and then work will be uncomfortable for the rest of the week. I’d better go over”.
So he sits beside you. You treat him like dirt on a shoe, and he is thinking, “Fuck this, neither of us want to chat to the other, we dont really like each other, but I cant just get up and go to another table now, that would be even more awkward.”
Its easy to think the worst, that he didnt respect your right to read a book, but the fact is that its just one of those socially awkward situations that, usually, people just make the best of. Make small talk for five minutes and everybody is happy, grunt and ignore him and now it is clear you dont really like him, which will affect your interaction for the rest of the week.
(And lets be honest here, its all about whether you like him or not. If this had been a new colleague that you got on with, you would have talked, no matter how much you wanted to read in peace. You didnt particularly like him, and now he knows it. Very rude imo)
The basic misunderstanding between extroverts and introverts - extros as a rule don’t just get that intros might prefer to have time alone with themselves.
But polite behaviour isn’t just what I’d call first-order politeness (behaving correctly) but more important second-order politeness (dealing as pleasantly as possible with others behaving incorrectly).
I for one don’t agree with Superhal’ suggestion to ‘eat quick, leave, go back to the room (or a public place outside where I know I wouldn’t meet them) and then read’. If it were me, being forced to bolt down a meal - breakfast at that, the most important meal of the day - would make me absolutely unendurable to fellow humans for some hours.
What I’d personally have done: put my book and my food to one side, made conversation while the other person breakfasted, then resumed breakfast and reading.
Again it seems to break down that some people feel his desire to make small talk trumps my desire to sit and read a book. By making small talk and putting the book down, it means I will not have the opportunity to enjoy my breakfast and book again for another week and if, on my next day off (only one a week) he or someone else decides they want to talk, it once again trumps my desire to sit and read a book at breakfast. As I said, we have breakfast together every morning of the week. Even though it is my one day off and officially I am on my own time, I am still obligated to satisfy the social needs of the rest of the team, rather than my own need to sit quietly and read a book. Apparently, I only get to satisfy this need if everyone else has satisfied their inane need for chitchat and work talk, which is great because its like I’m able to squeeze another meeting into my week.
BTW at the café where I breakfast and where my colleagues also go sometimes I sometimes temporarily push the second chair to another table.
Are you an only child or something?
We all do things on a daily basis that we don’t really want to do. It’s called being polite and courteous. If I was that guy I’d never sit with you again.
Maybe it’s not about the importance of small talk vs. reading a book - maybe it’s more about being able to communicate what you want without fearing that you were a jerk.
FWIW, as the saying goes, if you think you were a jerk madmonk - you probably were. And I’m guessing that this thread is an attempt to find out how not to be, so that you’re not wasting your one-day-a-week off either avoiding public places, or posting.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with basically saying, “I hope you don’t mind, but I really would like to read my book. It’s nothing personal - just my favourite indulgence that I look forward to all week. You’re welcome to sit here, but if it’s conversation you’re after I won’t be much chop. Can we catch up at breakfast tomorrow?”
I’m not sure it’s about whose needs are more important - I think it’s just about how to keep the peace with your colleagues when you’re all in such an inclusive environment.
Otherwise you could try, “People often mistake what I’m doing right now as reading. In actuality, I’m praying really hard that you’ll fuck off and leave me alone. What - six days a week isn’t enough for you?!?!”
It’s certainly worked for me in the past.
In polite society, its often considered as rude or ruder to be rude to/embarraass the person who was inadvertantly rude, particularly if it is possible the first rude person was actually trying to be polite or well intentioned.
You got miffed. But think how embarassed he might have been.
He was rude for not asking (probably because he just wasnt thinking and it would be a whole nother issue if he knew you preferred to read alone). You were rude for ignoring him (because you really didnt think how he would feel about being ignored did you?).
I’ll second the “trick” of moving extra chairs to another table. That way, if someone seeks to sit down, you have a longer window of opportunity to request privacy. So many ways to do that that are less awkward if done before the other person is committed.
Oh, Friendly Social Morning Person, I really need an hour or two alone on my day off to read and refresh my mind.
Before 10:00 I’m just happier being left alone to read. Otherwise my whole day gets off kilter.
Would you mind sitting somewhere else? I have stuff on my mind I need to sort through alone.
All of these options allow the genuinely social friendly person to go elsewhere while saving face. Once the person sits down and engages in conversation, I think it is rude not to interact. But I’d tend to talk about my book, how great it is, how I can’t wait to read the next part. Giving them the option of saying “Would you like to read? I can get the newspaper for myself.” You never know…
“Please forgive my directness, but I find I’m needing a little alone time, hope you can understand!”, back to reading book.
Doesn’t seem all that hard.
How would I have handled it? I would have immediately placed my book down and engaged in conversation with him.
Tuning a friend out who is right in front of you, in order to text/read/listen to music/talk on a cell phone is rude, no matter how old you are. Because you are sending a clear message that he/she doesn’t rate high enough to merit your attention.
So, even though I might have felt put-out when he encroached upon my privacy, I would have immediately set down my book. To do otherwise would be dismissive and impolite. Being polite puts me, what?, 15 minutes behind on my reading? That’s the price you pay for civility.
I always block chairs. Usually I pile my stuff on the other chair, or try to sit with my back to the door so I never have to make eye contact. And hell no, I am not going to make time for every chatty cathy that comes over because they are feeling a little lonely at breakfast.
Put it this way, I am a quiet, serious person who nonetheless can be the life of the party if I choose to. If you want me to be friendly, open, and easy-going all week, I need some time to myself. Outside of work constraints, you don’t get to decide when that time is.
That guy will have learned his lesson, now, won’t he? Don’t bother someone reading a book alone at a table. His desire to make small talk doesn’t trump your desire to read.
However, all that being said, and I am about 97% on your side, you could have been a tiny bit nicer. It wouldn’t have killed you to say something like, “I am really beat from a whole week of work, and just need a little downtime with my book, i hope you don’t mind.” I have said things like that and if you say it in a slightly self-deprecating manner you just come off as slightly odd instead of slightly rude.
ETA: But PunditLisa, he’s not even a friend. OP’s never going to see him again. And how is it not rude for the other guy to come over and interrupt his book reading? It’s not as though madmonk picked up the book after he came - the other guy interrupted first. I think it would be just as rude if you were texting/talking on the cellphone FIRST and someone came over and demanded attention.
Those people are like small children that cannot entertain themselves for fifteen minutes.
This area was a communal one to be shared by all the team workers, right? I wouldn’t have even thought to ask to sit down. You’ve said that every day you guys have breakfast together and chitchat in the morning. He probably just assumed that today would be the same.
I’m surprised you’re paying so much attention to his not asking to sit down, Lynn. But maybe I’m just an uncouth barbarian. 
And I’ve been in situations where I’ve been reading and someone starts talking to me. I’ve always sat my book down and engaged in conversation. But then again, that’s really only happened with friends, never with a coworker.
I would have kept on reading and let the other guy be uncomfortable. after all, I didn’t ask this guy to come over and interrupt me. If he’s uncomfortable with me and the silence, that’s his problem to deal with. I guess I’m a rude person for not letting this guy take over my free time for his needs.
The dining area is a large room with dozens of tables where every hotel patron has breakfast. It seats well over one hundred people. It wasn’t even half full this morning.
I said we meet every workday for breakfast. This is necessary because we travel in convoy to the work site. We have breakfast and a quick meeting and then get in the cars to go to work. On the one day off, people wake up whenever and go to breakfast whenever they want. Because the driver also has this one day off, we are largely trapped on the hotel grounds for our day off. We also all work in one room with no one having a private office (we are starting up a project). So on a workday we are together about 13 hours a day, six days a week. Yesterday, someone asked one of the team members what she was doing on her day off and she said “turning off my phone and trying to avoid you guys all day.” We laughed in that way you do when someone has spoken a universally acknowledged truth.
We have been together for weeks. Many of us flew out on the same flight and sat in the same airport lounges for hours and hours together. I don’t know how many people who think I was the rudest person ever do much business traveling with colleagues, but I have spent the past five years living and working with people in one compound or another in places like Baghdad and Kabul. After a while your room feels like a cell and you want to be able to spread out and relax in a well lit space taht isn’t sitting on your bed watching BBC. There is nothing childish about wanting a little time to yourself to read a book and enjoy a meal.
I suspect that a lot of people see a person reading a book and think they are doing that person a favor by engaging in chit-chat. I assure you that you never are brightening someone’s day, but rather burdening them with your company. Now that you have been told, you have no excuse.