I can read anywhere too. Like @Merriment , it often drives my family crazy. I’ll be curled up with a book, totally oblivious to what’s going on around me, and my husband will ask me a question or tell me something. I’ll answer him coherently, but later on won’t even remember what he was saying or what I responded with. I can also handle frequent interruptions when I’m reading and then get right back into the book.
I’ve always been that way, but probably developed the skill early. I learned to read early and easily, and have always been an avid reader. In school, I sometimes got in trouble for reading too far ahead of the class. You know, when the whole class starts on page 1 and the teacher assigns a student to read out loud and everyone is supposed to follow along? The sound of a classmate struggling with the reading or mispronouncing words drove me crazy. I would tune it out and just read to myself, then I’d get called on to read and not know where the rest of the class was (usually a few pages behind). My daughter is in 5th grade, and when I told her how I used to hate listening to other kids read aloud in class, she started cracking up and said she does the same thing. She can also already read surrounded by noise and activity and not be the least bit bothered.
Now, I have to get back to my book…