mix Buzzfeed‘s “23 Things that Prove Society is Doomed” with Salon‘s “War & Peace on the Subway: How Your iPhone is Saving Literature,” then angle it through my publicists’ rose-colored glasses, and you end up with something a lot like:
1. Sitting together and reading still counts as socializing:
↳ Via quoteinvestigator.com, once upon a time.
2. It’s considered polite not to read over your date’s shoulder:
↳ Used to be via empoweredteensandparents.com.
3. Fill the steps between class and the bus stop with a book:
↳ I wonder if these kids know they’re in the original of this image from betabeat.com?
4. Books, for all the many time-outs and half-times of the sporting events you attend:
↳ Somebody here forgot their book . . . (Originally via umhoops.com).
5. “There’s such a glare in here, we’re all having to hold our phones at odd angles to see the pages of these books”:
↳ Used to be from picsofaznstakingpicsoffood.tumblr.com, but the internet broke because the URL was too long.
10. Sometimes chivalry is a race. She’s trying to gift him the book before he can buy it himself:
↳ Originally via 98kool.com, which has to be either a radio station or a cigarette.
11. Sure, Thomas Cole is good, but if you want zombies, you’re going to have crack a book open:
↳ Originally via carrotsbridgeshorizons.wordpress.com.
12. When you don’t know what to say, maybe a book can help:
↳ Used to be via saketvora.com. And no, I’m not getting paid for the product placement. Though I am now thirsty.
16. They’re reading so fast it’s making their faces blur:
↳ Originally via singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg. Unless Samara’s holding that camera . . .
18. He’s putting a bookmark in his audio novel:
↳ Via businessinsider.com once upon a time. A site I’ve never, never been to.
19. It’s not considered ‘time-out’ if you’ve got a book. With a book, you can still escape to anywhere:
↳ Original via runt-of-the-web.com.
↳ stephen graham jones