JD, I agree with your disquiet at reading in the climb, I am a believer in the Sterile Cockpit concept during climb, that's not on.
My original question was intended to derive an opinion between say, skimming a folded newspaper with instrumentation unobscured beyond and becoming involved in in-depth reading matter, as is the case in novels or sudoku, which are designed to remove the reader's attention wholesale from the present for substantial lengths of time.
I'd see technical study as OK too as it usually does not involve long timespans of concentration (compared to a compelling chapter in a good novel) and in any case is clearly on-topic.
For heaven's sake, it's a sad flight-deck where no newspapers are allowed. surely? The ususal problem is getting newspapers, as opposed to comics...