What Do Non-readers Talk About?

[Peg Herring]

I had dinner yesterday with cousins I see about once a year, always a pleasant experience. But we always end up talking about books. She has discovered Louise Penny, to her delight, and he was reading a Civil War alternative history trilogy in which the South wins and the historical detail is fascinating. I threw in everyone from Clive Cussler to...well, me.

My question in today's title is rhetorical, but another question follows. Is any pastime anywhere as thoroughly discussed as reading is among its practictioners? I suppose part of the "discussability factor" is the subjectivity of it all. I mean, if your hobby is baseball, there's a definitive way to determine who is best. Team A won the World Series. Yeah, I know, the umpire was on crack, but there is a system for figuring out who's the best, and it's hard to argue with a final score.

With writing, answers will vary. You can tell me all day long how talented Author A is, but if my experience doesn't match yours, I don't have to agree.

And when we do agree, there's even more to discuss. All those elements the author manipulates so well, all those "Have you read the one about...?" questions. Non-readers just don't know what they're missing.

[Peg Herring]

I wondered where that goofy TV show came from.

[Dana King]

I can't speak for women, but men who don't read have their our subjective arguments. Was the 1986 Bears defense better than the 1974 Steelers? Who's hotter, Elle MacPherson or Christie Brinkley. (Showing my age there, I know.) Or, my all-time favorite, who would win a fight between a gorilla and a grizzly bear. My brother said the guys where he works argues that for weeks, even going home and researching things. "Yeah, maybe, but the goralls could climb a tree and throw stuff." "So what? He has to get to the tree, and the bear's faster."

Swear to God.