Do Girls With Books Want to Be Hit On?

Not sure why, but something Joan told me popped into my head today: that reading a book on Muni is a great way to meet guys.

Now, I didn't walk up to Joan when she was reading (I met her at a party), but apparently lots of guys did, and that's how she met the guys she dated before and after me.

Thinking back on this today, it occurred to me that girls (who we typically don't think about as the iniatiators in a pick-up situation, or at least not as the "pick-up artists") still have at their disposal a lot of tools for selecting what type of guy hits on them.

Take Joan, who hated "bros" and wasn't interested in anyone who lived north of California Street. Bury your head in Umberto Eco on the 22 and you're guaranteed to ward off be-muscled douchebags. But you just might draw in intellectual hipsters, like moths to a flame.

I asked St. Frances if this was a well-known trick among the foxier sex.

"Uh... if that's the only reason you're reading a book, then that's really lame. I thought Joan liked reading?"

"She did. She just found that it had some romantic side-benefits. What do you think, does it work?"

"Well, I guess I've had guys come up to me when I'm reading, sometimes. And they've usually been worth meeting."

Maybe women are the real pick-up artists. Am I the last guy to figure this out?

Anyway, I reminded myself to try talking to the next girl I see reading The Alchemist.