An Engaged and Approachable Bookworm

During our Sunday morning perusal of the papers, I saw from across the table this shocking headline:

E-Books Make Readers Less Isolated

Of course I was intrigued. For those of you who don't have the time or energy to read the whole article (although it's not that long), the gist of it is simply that e-readers leave their users more inviting-looking to those around them, and less cut off from the rest of the world. Which, in turn, implies that those who read are, ipso facto, an isolated bunch:

“I think, historically, there has been a stigma attached to the bookworm, and that actually came from the not-untrue notion that, if you were reading, you weren’t socializing with other people.”

I'm sorry, but as a lifetime bookworm - and avid conversationalist - I couldn't disagree more.

First of all, why single out readers? We're no more "isolated" than the man shouting a conversation into his cell phone, the kid playing on her DS or the college student with an iPod on.

That said, I will agree that as a reader, I am not particularly open to strangers striking up conversations with me while I am clearly engrossed in my book. Ask me what I'm reading and I'm likely to show you the spine of the book as an answer - without ever taking my eye from the page. That's a question you can answer yourself, little to no detective work required. But say something interesting, something worth taking my attention, and I will, in the bat of an eye, put down my book and talk. Often about books.

I'm not an unapproachable bookworm, but you best have something worthwhile to say if you plan to interrupt my reading. Maybe that does make me unapproachable to some, or maybe it makes me seem isolated, but I simply cannot agree that bookworms carry a stigma. Books bring us together, not the opposite. If you think differently, I'd say that's your loss.