Books

When A Person Talks To You While You're Reading...

by Alex Weiss

Everyone has a few pet peeves: someone chewing with his or her mouth open, talking on the phone on public transit, letting the dishes pile up in the sink for weeks. But for a book-lover, there's no greater pet peeve than someone attempting to talk to you while you're reading. It's like yanking headphones out of someones ears, or deciding to discuss your drama in the middle of a midnight showing of a brand new movie. In other words: it's rude.

Sure, someone reading a book may not look like they're doing all that much. You might think: She's just sitting there, and she's just holding a book in his hand — what's the big deal? What you can't see is that person's mind sucked into a completely different world, full of characters and suspenseful plots and so much more. It's sort of the worst thing to be sucked back out for a conversation that nine times out of 10 can wait, at least for a few minutes while I finish up the chapter.

Granted, I understand there are some conversations that can't wait. I'm a reasonable person, but at the same time, I like my book time. If you take public transit, read while you're on lunch break, or have a few roommates who don't grasp the idea of "quiet time", then you've definitely had these 14 thoughts when someone tires to talk to you while in the middle of a really, really good book:

1. "Can You Not?"

2. "I Wonder If She'll Stop Talking To Me If I Raise The Book Higher?"

3. "I Should've Put Headphones On."

4. "Did This Person Forget The Whole 'Reading Means Quiet Time' Lesson In Kindergarten?"

5. "I Bet You're The Type Of Person To Talk In A Movie Theater, Too."

6. "I Wonder What Would Happen If I Just Respond To This Conversation With Only The Dialogue From This Book...?"

7. "Is It Rude If I Ask Him To Stop Talking? Does This Make Me A Horrible Person? Am I The Worst Listener In The World?"

8. "How Many Shrugs Does It Take For You To Get The Hint I'm Not Interested?"

9. "What Did I Do To Deserve This?"

10. "Pretend To Care, Pretend To Care..."

11. "Nope, I Just Can't."

12. "I'm Going To Invest In Audiobooks From Now On."

13. "I Think She's Finally Taken The Hint — Victory!"

14. "Now I Can't Find The Page Where I Left Off..."

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