Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

This has so many levels of brilliance I can’t even begin to enumerate them. Thanks for the smile.

I hadn’t seen it yet! That was so many flavors of awesome

.

Hahahaha! I love it!

Awesomeness!

Just showed it to my hubbie..hoping he got the hint..

Lol, thanks :) I have been so bored today, but I knew where to go

ROFLAMO! - I just mailed the link to my wife:

“Look, Honey, it’s MEEEE!”

Me wife just mailed back:

IT’S YOU!!!!!

“I never even pay for my library books.”  XD

(I’ve also been known to read my kids’ birthday books before they do—but I can’t say they’ve ever been as sad about it as that poor little kid)

LOL, this reminds me of something Lonely Island would do.

LOL.  Loved it.  Did anyone else notice he was reading Marley and Me??  Thanks for the smile this AM.  I needed that.  :)

Hilarious! Baby blue Ray Bans and a bad-ass vibe.

Reminds me of Rollins.

Bwah ha ha. Love it!

Once, on a long car trip I was attempting to read and my mom kept asking me questions. After receiving several monosyllabic answers from me, she said, “Is that a good book?” and I replied,

“I dunno, you won’t let me read it!”

This is totally me! You know how there are “cat people” and “dog people”, and they can never quite agree about the other’s preference? Well, there are “book people” and “non-book people”, too. I’m the first, and my husband is the second. In fact, my whole (pre-marriage) family is book people, and his whole family is non-booky.

My family thinks it’s rude to interrupt someone while they’re reading a book.
His family thinks it’s rude to read a book when there’s a conversation going on (even if it doesn’t involve or interest you). 

I wish I had realized that BEFORE I married him. Informed consent and all that, you know. ;-)

Badass book readers for the win!  Love it!

Oh my god WHAT
This is amazing!
Sending to all my librarian friends immediately.

Love the video though I do think the dude is just a tad creepy looking and the bagpipes at the end- a tiny bit of WTF there.

I think if you have a book in your hands and you’re staring at an open page it should be obvious what you’re doing. Yet where I used to work people would ask what I was doing. Then when I told them they looked at me like I’d dropped in from Mars. Good thing I didn’t have an e-reader at the time because that would have been impossible to explain.

Oh, GOD HELP YOU if you have an e-reader.  I’ve never had so many people come up to me and ask me about the book I was reading.  I think it’s because the technology is still fairly new and everyone wants to know all about it.  I’ve learned not to go to the breakroom for my break, or I’ll never get anything read.  Maybe if I wore a hoody and did this creepy scowl thing, they would leave me alone.  Hmmmm.  :)

I remember one night (morning) mom getting up to use the bathroom &, noticing my light on, poked her head in to see what was up. I’m pretty sure she saw something a lot like this(sans hoodie) when I rolled over with my book & growled “I’m READING!”

I seem to remember that there’s a scene in Catcher in the Rye where Houlden is reading a book with continual interruptions, including one to ask him whether he is enjoying the book.  And he responds by saying “This sentence I’m reading is terrific.”  I may be misquoting—but it is one of my dad’s favourite scenes so I’ve heard him refer to it a number of times!

Love this video.  Have sent the link to my husband who will definitely appreciate it, since we’re both avid readers!

OMG that’s me and my son!!!  I want to show him this video, but he would be signing it all over the house for weeks.  DH would kill us both.  Thanks for the great video!!!  I love Friday videos.

OMG, that was AWESOME!!!

Yes, I’ve had that feeling, always said in the scary voice, not the airy, synth’ed voice. And I occasionally have random bagpipes show up , too, so it’s all good…

They have it on itunes.  I’m going to be listening to this all weekend and trying to convince my friends that they need it too.

Loved it - even the totally random bagpipes.  I remember biting off my husband’s (non-booky) head while I was reading Harry Potter #8.  His comment was “You yelled at me over Harry Potter?!?!”  They (the non-bookies) just don’t get it.

Think72 - I can think of at least 72 reasons why it’s not a good idea to interrupt me when I’m reading.

Oops - Harry Potter #7, I mean.

Loved the video, but anything that includes Scotland the Brave makes me a fan.

Loved it, but dude, psycho book rapper’s angry face will haunt my nightmares!

I remember biting off my husband’s (non-booky) head while I was reading Harry Potter #8.  His comment was “You yelled at me over Harry Potter?!?!”

If this had been my husband he would be my ex-husband now. He knows better than to interrupt me while I’m reading a book. I leave him alone with his wrestling. It’s worked for us for 23 yrs. so far.

Love the video.

My science geek husband is mostly into non fiction, so we’re bonded by reading but in diff ways.  At one point I was sobbing, sitting in bed, reading the last Harry Potter, surrounded by kleenex, and he said, “ummmm…you know they’re fictional, right?”

Please.  as though reality has any impact on me whatsoever!

I love it, and feel fairly sure that the point of the bagpipes is that…wait for it…they are INTERRUPTING him mid-sentence! ;)

@ Laurel: Omigosh! Another Laurel! Cheers, dears. Not many of us. :)

Am loving this! I have totally been this guy many many times.

Love this! 
I’ve definitely lashed out at people because they wanted to TALK to me while I was trying to read.  The nerve…  It took my husband a while to figure it out, but he’s gotten better at leaving me alone when I’m reading. 
And I’ve heard the random bagpipes in my head while reading, but only while reading Outlander, so I guess then they weren’t really random.  :-P

Wow, love it. And, that’s totally me. My husband and I fall into the bookey and non-bookey families too. They are missing out on so much. Even tried to get him interested in audiobooks in the car, thinking maybe it was a reading thing, but he has difficulty following the story in any form. Took him awhile to be able to follow fictional movies too.
Now, it sounds like he’s not real functional, but he’s a science and math geek, really left-brained and brilliant, but fiction is just over his head.
However, he’s smart enough to leave me peacefully reading away in the evenings while he works on spreadsheets - to each their own pleasure. It’s worked for 25 years.

LOL!!! That was great!

God, yes. I mean, without the driving—that’s part of why I enjoy public transportation*—but yes.

I remember, in one of the ebook v. print debates, seeing someone claim that one disadvantage of ebooks was that people can’t see what you’re reading and start conversations with you. And I…what…this is a bad thing? Seriously? In what bizarro universe?

I *still* want to make custom Kindle covers/book jackets that say things like:
I Killed Him Because He Wouldn’t Shut Up: The Incredible True Story Of TRYING TO GODDAMN READ HERE.
or
This Book is More Interesting Than You.
or just
STFU: A Guide to Not Bothering Me.

My friends and I decided that I’d have to embroider the last one all Colonial-sampler style. I’d have to learn to sew. But it would totally be worth it.

*WHEN IT RUNS ON TIME, she said, just a touch bitterly.

@Isabel C—love the covers idea!  There’s got to be a market for that.  I know I’d get one for my Sony Pocket.

I *still* want to make custom Kindle covers/book jackets that say things like:
I Killed Him Because He Wouldn’t Shut Up: The Incredible True Story Of TRYING TO GODDAMN READ HERE.
or
This Book is More Interesting Than You.
or just
STFU: A Guide to Not Bothering Me.

Hilarious. I’d buy one.  My husband still doesn’t get it.  We’ve been married almost nine years.  My six year old son has more sense than that.  *sigh*

A big thank you to Susanna Kearsley.  He has that pasty reader vibe going there and the whole OCD is covered as well.

@Tracy, so true about the ereaders.  Anytime I take mine out in public I feel like the information booth and shouldn’t I be getting kickbacks from Sony already.  Scariest of all is when my Dad started making noise about purchasing one.  My tailor-made nightmare, a father with an ereader.

@Isabel C.  You and Courtney Milan must have been separated at birth.  Try cross-stitching, it’s the easiest to learn and your library probably has a book for that.

The worst thing is when a fellow reader interrupts you.  Did they not read the rule book?  I just put the book or the reader down, sigh, and remind myself that this too shall pass.

@Isabel C. I Killed Him Because He Wouldn’t Shut Up: The Incredible True Story Of TRYING TO GODDAMN READ HERE.

If you put this on Etsy or CafePress or wherever, I would totally buy it.

Like Wendy, I’m from a family of book people married into a non-book family, only it’s not that my husband and in-laws don’t read—they do.  It’s just that their expectation is that if a person is in the same room, they’re open to conversation, so if you want uninterrupted reading time, you have to go off by yourself.  While in my family we can have five of us in the same room, two absorbed in books, one working a sudoku, another doing some quiet craft, and the fifth watching sports with the volume way down, and go quite awhile without talking at all.  I suppose his family is more “normal,” but I grew up with the expectation of not interrupting anyone who looks absorbed in whatever they’re doing, no matter how many people are present.

Like Wendy, I’m from a family of book people married into a non-book family, only it’s not that my husband and in-laws don’t read—they do.  It’s just that their expectation is that if a person is in the same room, they’re open to conversation, so if you want uninterrupted reading time, you have to go off by yourself.

Me too, but this describes my mother in law perfectly.  The husband has learned, after 12 years of marriage, that he really shouldn’t talk to me if I’m reading.  The kids too—the rule for them is if mommy has a book, then don’t talk to mommy unless someone is bleeding or the house is burning down.  The upside for them is that, especially since I went back to school, I have to limit my recreational reading to basically two weeks in summer and two weeks at Christmas.  But my mother in law just keeps trying to have conversations when I’m reading, or watching tv, or working, or doing any number of things that require attention and some measure of concentration (but especially when I’m reading).  It is highly irritating.

in my family we can have five of us in the same room, two absorbed in books, one working a sudoku, another doing some quiet craft, and the fifth watching sports with the volume way down, and go quite awhile without talking at all.

I want to live with you.

One man I worked with told me that when he was travelling by bus/train he would try to sit next to a reader, as asking about the book always gave him the perfect opportunity to start up a conversation! I tried to explain how irritating that would be to the person trying to read, but he couldn’t grasp the idea that some people prefer reading to conversation. I always tried to avoid him at lunch breaks.

I’m in a family of readers. There are evenings when all four of us are in the same room, each quietly reading our own thing, and the only interruption comes from the myriad pets. Now, if they could be trained not to interrupt, life would be damn near perfect!

Is he Ashton Kutcher’s scary brother or something?

He looks the child of Justin Timberlake and Kellan Lutz.

Non-book people really are annoying with the interrupting and the “whatcha reading” and the let me tell you a long, boring, pointless story just as your about to find out whodunit.

I am a book addict married to a book addict.  Sounds great but actually everything around here goes to hell while we’re absorbed in our reading.  When we were first married (39 yrs. ago) we made two rules: no reading at the dinner table and no reading in the passenger seat.  We had the idea that the first was necessary to be civilized and the second, to be fair.  Both my daughters are unrepentant readers as well, so creepy reader guy will resonate with the whole family.  Thanks for yet another excellent Friday video!

Had NOT seen this.  I’m glad I have now.  As you said, I can totally relate.

I saw this and told my husband that I just might have found my theme song. Upon hearing it, he heartily agreed. I’ve actually growled at people for interrupting my reading. My husband is the biggest culprit in our house. He and I are both book people who come from non-book people families, so you’d think he’d know better, but he’s got this thing where if he’s not reading and I am, he just has to bug me.

Love this!  Any chance there’s a ringtone, or better yet an outoing message for voicemail?

His family thinks it’s rude to read a book when there’s a conversation going on (even if it doesn’t involve or interest you).

I don’t understand why non-readers care if I’m sitting quietly reading instead of listening to their conversation, but they do - my father goes one better and doesn’t like people reading while he’s watching TV, which is an easier rule to follow now I don’t live with him.
I used to be polite when people tried to interrupt me for pointless discussions, either on breaks at work or on public transport/planes. Now I just say “If I wanted to talk I wouldn’t be reading.”
PS I want

I Killed Him Because He Wouldn’t Shut Up: The Incredible True Story Of TRYING TO GODDAMN READ HERE

printed on a T-shirt, please!

This was awesome - i had not seen it yet!
I need to go get all bad ass at the library now - cuz I don’t pay for my books neither. fool.

Really loved it - that Tyson spacer he was sportin’ was the icing on his mofocake (was that furrealz?)

To the girl with the kindle cover slogans - you should totally go for it - it’s one of those genius ideas that’s simple and wickedly funny.

Someone pointed out he was reading Marley & Me when getting pulled over.
Dude - when he’s in his little sunlit nook? Homeboy’s reading The Nanny Diaries.

Ok, sorry for my third post on this - showed it to my 7 year old and she abso-freakin’ loves it. She’s also been known to go apesh*t if I dare to interrupt her during her DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read).

I see the song is available on itunes…I may not be able to resist ;)

omg Wendy I feel you.  when I was a kid even going to peoples houses where there were kids my age, I would bring a book.  why am I ignoring you? because you do not sword fight, travel through space, declare your undying love for me, or break spells.  I had one friend who spent the whole time we played Barbies just changing their clothes and doing their hair. OF COURSE I’d rather read than play with you!!

I could be wrong, but I think plato said “those who don’t read are no better than those who can’t”

oh, and when it comes to the whole interrupting thing, people don’t only do this when you’re reading.  if I’m watching a movie or television show, my mother feels the need to choose that moment to have an entire conversation with me.  her excuse is usually that if I am watching a dvd I can pause so no harm done.  um, except that it takes me double the time to finish!!

two words Bag Pipes. I think i just found my theme song! I go through books like some go through kleenex, i think the most books i’ve read in a single day is 6. i’m not positive because i only started keeping track when i couldn’t remember how many i’d read that day.

I Killed Him Because He Wouldn’t Shut Up: The Incredible True Story Of TRYING TO GODDAMN READ HERE.

dude i’d totally buy one it’s perfect!!!

Please.  as though reality has any impact on me whatsoever!

and this sounds just right me

Someone pointed out he was reading Marley & Me when getting pulled over.
Dude - when he’s in his little sunlit nook? Homeboy’s reading The Nanny Diaries.

@Mama: LOL.  I didn’t catch that one.  :)

Best.
Video.
Ever.

Even though I am now slightly in love with the guy in this video, I really can’t wait to show it to my boyfriend. He is always complaining that the cat and I won’t let him read in peace.*  Though he is not as big a fan of random bag-pipery as I am, I know he’s going to get a kick out of this. It certainly made my day. And now I must watch it again.

*(Not true.)

yes, my family also thinks it’s quality time if we are all reading in the same room
and @Isabel C, please please please make those book/e-reader covers and sell them to the rest of us—it would be a public service! (both for the book people to be saved from interruption, and the non-book people to be saved from manslaughter…)

Glad to see I’m not the only one who saw herself in this! (I may be calm and polite on the outside when interrupted reading, but inside I’m all anger-in-a-hoodie..)

Just wanted to point out that, while I might have been the one who sent it to Sarah, the real credit belongs to fellow author Stephanie Burgis, who posted it on her blog: http://www.stephanieburgis.com/blog/interruptions-of-one-sort-or-another.php

Thanks, Stephanie.

I got interrupted when I was reading a book last Friday!!! I was driving to work, listening to Jennifer Cruisie’s “Maybe This Time” on CD when I got pulled over for speeding—my first ticket ever! But I learned an important lesson: darkness and speeding do not go together because you can’t tell that the idiot tailgating you is a cop.