Like you folks who cruise the aisles at Powell's, I too quite enjoy getting swept up in a good book (or porno mag, but sometimes a real book!). And when I get hooked on a book, I tend to take it with me everywhere I go. I read a little in the car, or in a waiting room, or even walking down the stairs. I try and find any free opening I can to progress to the end of the book I happen to be enjoying.
Now, I have a wife. And sometimes, the wife gets a little bit temperamental with me because my face is planted in a book and I'm not paying proper attention to her or noticing my children trying to stab each other. And then I'll get the look. You know the look. The look that tells you you're selfish and horrible and that you have your priorities all wrong.
Now, here is my defense for ignoring my loved ones in favor of a book: IT'S A BOOK! It's not a Blackberry or a TV or an iPhone. IT'S A BOOK! I'm reading here. I am nurturing my brain. I'm sending a message to my children that reading is FUN, much more fun than hanging out with them, as it turns out. Why would you chastise me for reading? Would you like me to stop reading? To stop being intellectually curious? Doesn't that mean you hate books? And knowledge? And education? I say it does. Staring at your phone while on a date makes you a bastard. Staring at a book? THOUGHFUL AND EVEN A LITTLE SEXY.
Which is why I think we should make it a rule that, at the very least, dead-tree books should provide readers with perpetual immunity from any and all dirty glances. You can't give me crap for reading a book and wanting to be more learned. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find out how the end of Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses plays out.