Reading In Public: Books We've Spotted And What You Might Want To Read In Bed On New Year's Day (PHOTOS, POLL)

Reading in public says something about a book--that the reader likes it enough to carry it on a subway, an airplane, to a doctor's office or cafe. Every so often, we gather observations from around the country on what people are reading in public--the books they get lost in to pass the time. If you don't want to watch the parades and/or football games on New Year's Day, if you partied a little too hard last night, here are a few literary hangover cures we've seen others indulging in.

"The Virgin's Lover", Philippa Gregory

comments(23)

This Book (Current Rank: loading...)

Not interested Great choice!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Now Make Your Own Top 5

And Share with Your Friends

Average rating: loading... out of 10

Top 5 Books

loading...

Top 5 Books

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

Top 5 Books

Users Who Voted on this Slide

loading...

loading...

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides:

«»

 | Become a fan

Top 5 Books

 

Get HuffPost Books On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Mike169]

11:56 AM on 01/04/2010

For all you mystery fans here's a good one

"The Death of a Red Heroine" by Qiu Xiaolong

A Shanghai detective - who woulda thunk it?

[BlackJAC]

11:17 AM on 01/04/2010

Just started HIT AND RUN by Lawrence Block at home and am working on COYOTE BLUE by Christopher Moore during lunch breaks at work.

[dahpunkster]

12:42 PM on 01/04/2010

love christopher moore - island of the sequined love nun is hilarious and so is the lusat lizard of melancholy covel.I am warning he is a little naughty.

[RenoSage]

06:24 PM on 01/03/2010

I just finished "Lords of Finance--the bankers that broke the world".
I highly recommend it. It is the account of the world economic situation
from the end of WW1 to 1936. The parallels to the current economy
are astounding, both in the lead-up and the action taken.

[BillKo]

12:57 PM on 01/03/2010

Gary Indiana's "The Shanghai Gesture" is smart fun, a take-off on Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels set in a strange, retro-future, full of surreal twists, drug-use by its protagonists and larger themes of international conspiracy and modern mayhem. Lots of laughs and clever cultural references. If you like the new Sherlock Holmes movie, you'll enjoy "The Shanghai Gesture" (we can see Robert Downey Jr. as Inspector Weymouth Smith). Reviewed at www.cabbagerabbit. com ...(books, music, comics) ... http://cabbagerabbit.com/2009/12/25/once-and-future-fu-manchu/

[mp3sevdam]

12:16 PM on 01/03/2010

The main characters themselves are completely unlikable. Quenton, the protagonist, is a boy/man who is still fascinated by the fantasy novels of his youth. In his mind, real life is pointless, there must be something more magical out there. The problem is, whenever he finds something more magical, be it Brakebills (the magician school), of Fillory (Narnia knock off), he is still unhappy and unsatisfied. This is the main point of the whole novel.
http://agvatatil.blogspot.com/

[The-Gnarly-Old-Oak]

06:36 PM on 01/02/2010

Fiction -- egad what about knowledge. Being able to make up the surroundings and the finale takes a writer a small amount of time.

Biography - takes the subject a life to perform without making up the finale.
Science - the finale is not known

Best read: "Greatest Show an Earth" by Dawkins careful you will learn a few things and be amused at times, but the ending is a real surprise .....;-)

[uhavenoface]

08:40 PM on 01/02/2010

Before you start foolishly poo-pooing the act of creation again, you should read Umberto Eco's "How I Write." You can find it at the end of his essay collection "On Literature" (sorry, not available online as far as I know). For what it's worth, he agrees with you about scientific writing, saying it should read like a mystery, but you don't seem to have any idea of what goes into world-building or storytelling.

Also lol at the implication that there's no knowledge in fiction. That's so demonstrably dumb that I don't even know where to start.

[The-Gnarly-Old-Oak]

11:33 PM on 01/02/2010

In the abbreviated sense that I was speaking, there is little told in fiction. Oh yes there are stories by fine writers of which I'd put Umberto Eco, but the ideas he's expressed in a fantasy have been stated many times -- oh maybe not so literistically. (forgive the conjugation) but indeed made [e.g. Thomas Merton]. Being able to manipulate a story to support belief is NOT the same as what must come from interrogation of our existence beyond the 'stories of origins' or fables of belief but by the patient life-long work of scientific inquiry.
The issue perhaps I should have attacked is that of mass pulp fiction, that allows a significant quantity of us to be unable to identify any supreme court justice, the location of most major cities or countries on a map, and a thorough lack of knowledge of the Bill of Rights. And then support the profound foolishness of creationism; accepted almost exclusively out of an ignorance of the facts.

[RenoSage]

05:33 PM on 01/03/2010

Yes, one could learn a lot from "Greatest Show on Earth".

It is factual proof that evolution is not just theory.

It shocked me that polls show that 44% of the people polled believed that all was created in 6 days.

[OttotheScourge]

06:13 PM on 01/02/2010

On the same page as "How to use an apostrophe," perhaps someone will figure out how to place a comma inside quotation marks. This is America. Commas always go INSIDE the quotes...with only one exception.

[keene]

12:00 PM on 01/02/2010

JUST READ these two novels by Sarah Schulman:The Mere Future and Shimmer.

She's a wonderful writer. Imaginative, funny, insightful. With lesbian lead character.

[SoonerThought]

09:11 AM on 01/02/2010

Indie authors have some good stuff, too. I like the thriller "Pilate's Cross"--a fun page turner. Http://www.Pilatescross.com

[jukesgrrl]

03:26 AM on 01/02/2010

My computer crashed on Christmas Eve, but I didn't even care as my mother had given me a copy of Careless in Red by Elizabeth George. If you enjoy an English murder mystery (I know, I know, Ms. George herself is not English), treat yourself to this page-turner. It's long enough to last more than a day and it didn't take a string of gruesome serial killings to move the plot. The characters are well-drawn (a George hallmark) and the descriptions of the Cornwall coast are terrific. Welcome back, Inspector Lynley.

[PhilipB]

06:54 PM on 01/03/2010

Thanks, I will check that out.

[mj23]

01:02 AM on 01/02/2010

"The Guys Who Spied for China" by Gordon Basichis. Not your usual spy book, this book is based in reality. A quirky fascinating read from the indy publisher Minstrel's Alley. http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Who-Spied-China/dp/0984105204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262412124&sr=8-1

[3fingerbrown]

07:46 PM on 01/01/2010

Just spent most of New Year's day curled up with the new Thelonious Monk bio. Finding the definitive book on such an important subject was a great way to start the year. Someone pass the black-eyed peas.

[PhilipB]

06:55 PM on 01/03/2010

Did you see "The Jazz Baroness"?
That was the best thing I have watched in a long time.

[3fingerbrown]

06:25 AM on 01/04/2010

I can only assume by the title it's a film about Nica. Haven't seen it but will seek it out--should be a perfect companion piece to this book. She's a prominent character in it. Thanks!

[dahpunkster]

06:17 PM on 01/01/2010

Where are the shopaholic novels? I know they are pure fluff, but they are enjoyable and fun and well written. Will cure you out of THE BLACKEST MOOD in a pinch. My favorite one is Shopaholic ties the knot.

[Christie Rhodes]

12:16 PM on 01/01/2010

For the record, The Magicians is a horrible novel, IMHO.
Here is my review for Amazon

19 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Combination of Harry Potter and Narnia - final result = rushed and dull, July 16, 2009


In The Magicians, the author attempts to create an adult version of Harry Potter and then meld it with an adult version of the Chronicles of Narnia. The end result is too much story for one book, which cause the novel to become extremely dull. The main characters themselves are completely unlikable. Quenton, the protagonist, is a boy/man who is still fascinated by the fantasy novels of his youth. In his mind, real life is pointless, there must be something more magical out there. The problem is, whenever he finds something more magical, be it Brakebills (the magician school), of Fillory (Narnia knock off), he is still unhappy and unsatisfied. This is the main point of the whole novel.

Part I - Brakebills - learning magic, easily the best portion of the novel

Part II - After graduation - ennui, boredom, sex and drinking, worst part of the novel

Part III - Fillory - journey to the magic land, angst galore, some action, but still rather dull

Part IV - recuperation phase in Fillory, guilt, some resolution, dull, dull, dull

Part V - back to the real world in NY, more dullness with final ending.
By this point, I hated all the characters so

[uhavenoface]

09:18 PM on 01/02/2010

It sounds like you just don't like it when someone points out how empty, unrealistic, and unfulfilling escapist fantasy is.

[BlackJAC]

11:23 AM on 01/04/2010

Didn't you ever wonder why pretty much every successful and popular story almost always has someone getting liberated from their humdrum existence and dead-end job? It's because most people have humdrum existences and dead-end jobs, and want some excitement in their lives.