Reading Books In Public (or) Standing Out Like A Pink-Glitter Platypus

Cautionary tales of being bookworms in the wild

“You two are just the cutest,” she proclaimed, smiling like a Texas woman full of Southern charm. “I don’t remember the last time I saw anything so wholesome.”

And then she’s gone.

My partner and I return to our activity.

A few minutes later, a fellow middle-aged guy does a double-take at us and then decides to slowly meander over, unable to help himself.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I just have to say, it’s been a long time since I’ve witnessed something like this, guys. The world, I tell ya, the world needs more of this. You just look so damned content.”

This was the third time in one sitting. We were used to it, but come on!

I look up and smile at him. “Thanks, yeah, this is just our fun, our way of relaxing.”

“That’s great, keep up the good work,” he proclaimed, and meanders off with a smile, truly inspired.

I can hear you wondering —

What the hell were they doing?!

Building homes with Habitat For Humanity? Rescuing kittens from a tree? Doing an interpretive dance on the plight of the Native American?

Nope.

We were sitting together outside a coffee shop, both of us with a book — a physical, hardcopy, made-of-paper book — in our laps, reading.

Somehow in the eyes of others, we looked like a freakin’ Norman Rockwell image of a lost era or time, and people can’t get enough of us.

At least ten times it’s happened.

Complete strangers have felt emboldened, compelled even, to come over and express their appreciation for ahhh, wow, look at that, two guys just sitting there, reading books, not even looking at their phones… how many years has it been since I’ve witnessed that?, they exclaim.

We don’t do it for attention.

We’re not reading with the hope of being featured in the Hot Dudes Reading Instagram or Facebook page. (It’s literally a thing, impressive).

This is just how we roll, how we like to spend time together — kind of similar to my story about being the weirdos who take folding chairs everywhere, just in case there’s suddenly-found beauty.

These jaunty book outings are the result of two tried-and-true lifetime bookworms coming together as a couple and having the shared notion that quality time involves scenery, some quiet time and a nice book.

As a pre-teen, The Hardy Boy and then Agatha Christie mysteries sucked me in, and even led to me try my hand at writing a few murder mysteries on my own as a lad.

The physical act of reading is a priority, a must in my life, and while I don’t have the time I once did now that I’m also an active writer, I still make it through a good 20–30 books a year, all varieties.

I hear ya, e-books and Kindles are probably worth checking out, but the tactile paper books still bring me the most joy.

My partner Eddie came to loving reading a tad later than I did, but for decades now he’s been the guy who gets a bit itchy and driven to distraction if there isn’t a pile of 4–5 potential books on standby on his nightstand.

This next bit is pretty telling. During downtimes at his job on sound stages for TV sitcoms, Eddie would always whip out a book to read. And his coworkers — get this — would often interrupt him to chat, feeling that they were saving him from boredom, as in, “Oh, this poor fellow has resorted to reading a book, he must be super-bored.” They couldn’t imagine a human taking out a book to read on purpose. Consequently, reading time had to be left for home — people just couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

Speaking of home, here are a few pics of Eddie with our kitty Alfie, who spent so much time reading with “his person” that I’m convinced Alfie was literate and could read along. He’s literally looking at the book, sometimes!

An afternoon of bliss for us is browsing a physical bookstore or the second-hand bookshelves in thrift stores. Hours can evaporate, and we count our lucky stars that despite all the naysayers and doom prognosticators, there are still physical bookstores all these decades after Borders Books went away, after Amazon killed so many.

Best of all, the recent interactions with strangers have proven again and again that we may be on to something.

People have done double-takes, physically coming to a stop in the go-go-go of life, their eyes falling upon two gents at the same table, fully engaged in a book, content to not chat. No one is scrolling away at a phone while the other passive-aggressively waits for the other to return to this planet.

And they come forth, they break the fourth wall, and they feel the need to say, “Wow, how impressive. Way to go, guys. This is a good thing.”

Has this happened to any of you out there in the wilderness?

It could be that you’re reading away on an e-reader so therefore you don’t stick out. But either way, keep up the good fight. Fellow readers may recognize you in a crowd, do a gentle head-nod and walk on completely uplifted that yes, we are not alone. Or even non-readers, beaten down by the pace of technology, may see you and be inspired to add quiet time back into their own lives.

Either way, books are magic.

But alas, I might need to start working out at the gym or dressing more fab if I plan to make my appearance on Hot Dudes Reading anytime soon.

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