People there just don't seem to know how to interact with others (I've never been there, but that is the very strong impression I get from television and movies, and from anecdotal statements like yours).
New Yorkers need to get over their issues with strangers. To me it is perfectly normal to say hi to someone you don't know, and have never seen before. I talk to strangers on the bus all the time, and usually it causes no problems. It is called being a friendly person, and seems to be something NYC lacks. There is something wrong IMO in the social makeup of residents of that city, some self-absorbed scared of others shell that New Yorkers have put themselves into.
To me, it is just unnatural.
New Yorkers need to get over their issues with strangers. To me it is perfectly normal to say hi to someone you don't know, and have never seen before. I talk to strangers on the bus all the time, and usually it causes no problems. It is called being a friendly person, and seems to be something NYC lacks. There is something wrong IMO in the social makeup of residents of that city, some self-absorbed scared of others shell that New Yorkers have put themselves into.
To me, it is just unnatural.
If they're reading the book is open so the cover isn't visible. It just seems to be rude to go out of your way to find out information about a stranger. It's probably because when I'm in this situation it's on a NYC subway and just striking up conversation with a stranger in the middle of your commute is kind of weird. Well, I have made small talk if the situation calls for it but I wouldn't interrupt someone reading.
Ok there was one time I was sitting down in a subway car that's only half full (most seats were taken, but almost no one was standing) and I noticed that a man was reading a really fat paperback. I found myself thinking, wow, that's a big book, that looks like it could be a wheel of time paperback. Then I got a glimpse of the cover/binding, and it was! [I didn't say anything]
Ok there was one time I was sitting down in a subway car that's only half full (most seats were taken, but almost no one was standing) and I noticed that a man was reading a really fat paperback. I found myself thinking, wow, that's a big book, that looks like it could be a wheel of time paperback. Then I got a glimpse of the cover/binding, and it was! [I didn't say anything]
or is it just weird?
i was on holiday and saw a guy reading well worn copies of shadows rising and then fires of heaven, so obviously a fan of wheel of time that i could probably have made a passing "oh i like that book too" but i didn't because in the back of my head i was thinking that he would think, what a weirdo
now if it was the other way around i'd probably embrace it, i come on a book forum i enjoy discussing the finer details of fantasy epic, but would he be of a similar disposition? it wasn't worth the risk of him forcing a smile, humouring me with small talk and then dismissing me with a slight air of embarrassment and then enduring a week of passing each other around the pool and doing that raised eyebrow nod of acknowledgment to each other
and yet and yet
so what's your opinion? ever made an obvious attempt at conversation with a person you see reading something you've read? and this isn't like when you're both in a book shop or a similar established ground for literary discourse. this is where you've crossed the expanse of a park or made for someone where they've noticed your approach and regarded you with wary anxiety as you've out of nowhere made an uninvited beeline for their reading solitude. were you stone walled or did you make a new friend? or do you have a more subtle tactic of perhaps edging closer, leaning over and being like...don't you just hate <insert character name> too?
similarly have you ever been received such attentions, how was the experience?
oh and if you're recently back from oludeniz in turkey, stayed at the belcahan hotel and read robert jordan i'm talking about you, i was reading robin hobb
on a tangent, the farseer and liveship trilogies still might be my favourite six fantasy books of all time. i reread them after maybe 6 or 8 years and i did think that my favourable memory of them may have been tinged by nostalgia, but they really weren't they truly are a great piece of work
i was on holiday and saw a guy reading well worn copies of shadows rising and then fires of heaven, so obviously a fan of wheel of time that i could probably have made a passing "oh i like that book too" but i didn't because in the back of my head i was thinking that he would think, what a weirdo
now if it was the other way around i'd probably embrace it, i come on a book forum i enjoy discussing the finer details of fantasy epic, but would he be of a similar disposition? it wasn't worth the risk of him forcing a smile, humouring me with small talk and then dismissing me with a slight air of embarrassment and then enduring a week of passing each other around the pool and doing that raised eyebrow nod of acknowledgment to each other
and yet and yet
so what's your opinion? ever made an obvious attempt at conversation with a person you see reading something you've read? and this isn't like when you're both in a book shop or a similar established ground for literary discourse. this is where you've crossed the expanse of a park or made for someone where they've noticed your approach and regarded you with wary anxiety as you've out of nowhere made an uninvited beeline for their reading solitude. were you stone walled or did you make a new friend? or do you have a more subtle tactic of perhaps edging closer, leaning over and being like...don't you just hate <insert character name> too?
similarly have you ever been received such attentions, how was the experience?
oh and if you're recently back from oludeniz in turkey, stayed at the belcahan hotel and read robert jordan i'm talking about you, i was reading robin hobb
on a tangent, the farseer and liveship trilogies still might be my favourite six fantasy books of all time. i reread them after maybe 6 or 8 years and i did think that my favourable memory of them may have been tinged by nostalgia, but they really weren't they truly are a great piece of work
Death to the Regressives of the GOP and the TeaParty. No mercy for Conservatives. Burn them all at the stake for the hateful satanists they are.
does seeing someone reading a book you like justify striking up a conversation
- 10/09/2011 08:21:28 PM
1231 Views
Only if you fancy them and are using it as an excuse to chat them up. *NM*
- 10/09/2011 11:44:07 PM
388 Views
I wouldn't interuppt someone while they are reading.
- 11/09/2011 03:16:50 AM
1096 Views
it is pretty easy tell if they would rather just be reading
- 12/09/2011 03:13:30 PM
927 Views
I guess my thing is I just hate to be interrupted and don't want to do it to someone else
- 12/09/2011 04:28:30 PM
987 Views
you get that immersed even in public area?
- 12/09/2011 06:52:54 PM
835 Views
Usually. If it's not a situation where I CAN, I just won't read.
- 12/09/2011 07:23:48 PM
1026 Views
I used to be timid. Now I don't care and will happily interrupt.
- 11/09/2011 07:42:35 AM
988 Views
it's the "i will probably never see again" i can't get my head around
- 11/09/2011 10:21:45 AM
903 Views
Answers to questions asked.
- 11/09/2011 03:34:32 PM
926 Views
i asked because i wondered how many people would welcome it or view it as an intrusion
- 13/09/2011 02:25:32 PM
918 Views
I have just gone up to someone and said "good choice in book"
- 11/09/2011 04:49:21 PM
918 Views
did he reply or did you back away...staring and pointing at the book? 
- 13/09/2011 02:27:45 PM
983 Views
- 13/09/2011 02:27:45 PM
983 Views
I can't resist that. I will always say something. Many people have done the same with me
- 11/09/2011 06:10:36 PM
1014 Views
How do you even figure out what they're reading?
- 12/09/2011 05:44:30 AM
962 Views
i look at the cover, i very rarely see someone reading a book bent back on itself *NM*
- 13/09/2011 02:31:52 PM
523 Views
Thats why I am glad I don't live in NYC
- 15/09/2011 05:41:47 PM
1086 Views
Thats just irritating when it happens to me...I never would do that to another human. *NM*
- 12/09/2011 08:54:06 AM
433 Views
i love the farseer books too! and yeah a little weird, but not that weird *NM*
- 13/09/2011 10:37:53 PM
350 Views