Every time a handsome man comes up to me and asks me what I am reading, it is never something cool<\/i>, like a Patrick O’Brian book, or Dostoevsky, or something like “The History of Fenway Park” – something I would feel no problem handing over for examination. Something that might even make me seem attractive, cool, and delicious. No. I am never reading a book like that in public – or if I am, that’s not when handsome men approach me. It’s always when I’m reading a book about Srebenica with a human skull lying in the weeds on the front cover. “Uhm … yeah … I’m reading about genocide on this hot summer day. Hi, my name is Sheila.”<\/p>\n
OR – even worse – I am reading a book with a title like: “You Can Be Special Because You Already Are.”<\/p>\n
It’s like clockwork. Handsome man on subway, in pub. “What are you reading?”<\/p>\n
oh for christ’s sake<\/i> I think … yet again I have a book with Hitler on the cover, or Stalin, or a huge swastika or a photo of a mass grave … OR it’s a book like “He’s Not That Into You”<\/i>. DAMMIT.<\/p>\n
There’s actually a funny comedy sketch in here somewhere.<\/p>\n
The man sees the pile of skulls in the Killing Fields, emblazoned across my book, and backs slowly away … sorry he asked the question.<\/p>\n
No, I’m just kidding. I actually have had some great conversations with strangers – because I am always reading in public – and more often than not it is some book about the Balkans or Central Asia or the Aral Sea drying up<\/a> … and sometimes the person asking “what are you reading?” is interested in those topics, too and has something interesting to add.<\/p>\n But I still find it amusing.<\/p>\n “What are you reading?” Sigh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every time a handsome man comes up to me and asks me what I am reading, it is never something cool, like a Patrick O’Brian book, or Dostoevsky, or something like “The History of Fenway Park” – something I would … Continue reading
\n“Death and Destruction in World War II.<\/i>”
\n“What are you reading?”
\n“Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans: Then and Now<\/i>.”
\n“What are you reading?”
\n“Dictators Through the Millennia<\/i>.”
\n“What are you reading?”
\n“Act Like a Happy Little Flower And Let the Miracles Manifest<\/i>.”<\/p>\n