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Reading over other people's shoulders
Jun. 10th, 2004 05:58 pmI can't help it. No matter how I try, I will always find myself glancing at what my fellow passengers are reading - their books, their newspapers, sometimes their drafts of the romantic novels they are writing.
What I find strangest is the way they seem to resent it so. Ok, this is understandable if what you're reading is a love letter, or even a text message, and in these cases I try extra hard to avert my eyes. But "Vernon God Little"?
Your efforts to angle the pages to shield them from my eyes, while trying to pretend that's not what you're doing, are incredibly pathetic and laugable. Are you frightened that the very letters will fly from the page into my eyes, denying you the pleasure of reading them? Or do you see the book as a hard-won trophy of your ability to pay for it, and thus resent sharing access to even fragments of a page? (This latter explanation, ludicrous as it may seem, is supported by the observation that Metro readers appear to be somewhat less rabidly propertarian over their reading material).
The other surprising thing I infer from their horrified reaction is that not everyone does this. How do you avoid it? Unless I have a book or a paper of my own, my eyes will wander for some interest, and attempts to corral them only hold then in briefly. I'm not allowed to stare at my fellow passengers - eyes must point firmly down, that rule I don't forget - and so it is on the reading matter that I inevitably feast - or at least, snack guiltily.
I'm listening in on your phone conversations too. But I'm sorry to report that in the brief time that we were sat together, the gentleman who inspired this little rant did not have the good grace to glance at my mobile phone and discover that I was writing about him. Pah!
What I find strangest is the way they seem to resent it so. Ok, this is understandable if what you're reading is a love letter, or even a text message, and in these cases I try extra hard to avert my eyes. But "Vernon God Little"?
Your efforts to angle the pages to shield them from my eyes, while trying to pretend that's not what you're doing, are incredibly pathetic and laugable. Are you frightened that the very letters will fly from the page into my eyes, denying you the pleasure of reading them? Or do you see the book as a hard-won trophy of your ability to pay for it, and thus resent sharing access to even fragments of a page? (This latter explanation, ludicrous as it may seem, is supported by the observation that Metro readers appear to be somewhat less rabidly propertarian over their reading material).
The other surprising thing I infer from their horrified reaction is that not everyone does this. How do you avoid it? Unless I have a book or a paper of my own, my eyes will wander for some interest, and attempts to corral them only hold then in briefly. I'm not allowed to stare at my fellow passengers - eyes must point firmly down, that rule I don't forget - and so it is on the reading matter that I inevitably feast - or at least, snack guiltily.
I'm listening in on your phone conversations too. But I'm sorry to report that in the brief time that we were sat together, the gentleman who inspired this little rant did not have the good grace to glance at my mobile phone and discover that I was writing about him. Pah!
