Other than that, my parents didn’t permit reading at the table, or at least if they were joining us. Their mantra, which I’ve shared with my children, was: meal time is a social event, of which the purpose is not eating, but communicating with others. (I cannot argue with this, as I’ve heard some really horrendous stories about potential suitors who brought a book along to read at dinner during a first date.

Now that my nest is empty, of course, I read at every meal – the daily paper, anime, novels, biographies, the encyclopedia, you name it. I like to think that I’m multi-tasking.