This is from two years ago. I’ve since modified my views, and tend to agree at this point.

One time when I was like 13 and my sister was 17 we were out somewhere and some guy started hitting on her despite the fact that she had made it very clear that she was not interested and underage. He was all, "Oh come on. Do you have a number?" And she said, "Yeah Ive got seven of them actually. Ten if you count the…

Yes altogether. I told my spouse the other day that women don't often respond nicely to benign compliments because there is a 50/50 shot that the next words out of dude's mouth are going to be offensive as fuck, and we're left feeling stupid that we allowed our nice tendencies to make us vulnerable to that crap. So…

Okay, well I really really fundamentally disagree with that. You're a guy, obviously, so you haven't put up with years of harassment and being put in genuinely threatening/dangerous situations by men, some of whom seemed normal enough to start off with. I wear earphones with no music to avoid being harassed on public…

Well, maybe not everyone is annoying, but the problem is it's hard to tell who will be and who won't be, and who will be downright scary. So a lot of us prefer to avoid the whole situation by not engaging with strangers period. It's a valid position to take, and should be respected.

You probably have eyes, and can see the book. If not, you don't actually HAVE to know, so if she's actually in the process of reading (and not just holding the book), just let it go. Even if you're genuinely only interested in the book, she still probably doesn't want to talk to strangers on the subway.

I vote fine, as long as you're actually interested in the book. It's disappointing when someone asks you what you're reading only to find out they actually just wanted to stare at your tits.

Sorry, but you need to dial down the obsessiveness if it extends to asking strangers what they're reading. If you can't figure it out from the cover of the book, or if they're reading on an e-device, then it's invasive to ask. You don't HAVE to know.

I'd probably go by body language. If she's got the book closed on her lap and is looking around, she might be up for a chat. If she's staring at the page and mumbling to herself, odds are she doesn't want to talk to anybody.

I had a guy go "I don't mean to bother you, but what are you reading?" And then before I could even answer he just launched into an insane ramble about why he doesn't read, and then asked me if I wanted to smoke a J with him.