OGIC: Demonstrative reading

Growing up, I used books to set myself apart. Like the young Jane Eyre, I found in them a salve for occasional loneliness (I had friends–honest I did!–but no siblings), but also a source of distinction, an emblem of a certain sensibility. There’s no question I wanted to be noticed reading, and that such concerns played a small but certain role in my choice of reading material. This is a little embarrassing to admit, but I don’t think it should be. It struck me recently when I watched some early episodes of Gilmore Girls. Sixteen-year-old Rory comes to her first boyfriend’s attention by reading on a park bench. What he particularly notices was that she gets so lost in her reading that she fails to notice anything going on around her, including an actual fistfight; and that she reads impressive books: “this week it’s Moby Dick. Last week it was Anna Karenina” (I’m paraphrasing here). This is a fantasy on a fairly obvious level: who, after all, reads 800-page novels in a week? Even if they don’t have to go to school and keep their overgrown-adolescent mother perpetually entertained? The fantasy that really charges this scenario, though, is that someone will notice our private-in-public reading, draw the proper conclusions about our adorable heart and admirable mind, and possibly even fall in love with us. I need to think more about this funny but pervasive notion of getting lost in a book as a bid for a social encounter. Any thoughts?