“You're not necessarily aware of what's going on around you. You miss things and you leave people out, and this might bother others. Some are inherently unnerved by another person reading alone, not seeing it as "I choose to read now," but rather as "Leave me alone" or "I'm lonely." There is something inherently melancholy about reading alone in a restaurant, for example. You get the sad looks that seem to say either "Your date didn't show?" or "You didn't have a date." “My life with Bob” Pamela Paul