Spotted Reading Publicly

Maybe it's because I'm in publishing, maybe it's because I love books, or maybe I'm just nosy, but when someone sitting near me in public is reading, I want to know what they're reading, why they're reading it, and why they decided to read it on the subway, at the doctor's office, on the airplane, or on a park bench. I end up setting aside what I'm doing in order to satisfy my curiosity, craning my neck and squinting my eyes to discern author, title, and if I'm lucky, publisher.

Lately I've been paying a bit more attention to what's being read publicly and here's what I and others have seen recently on the subway, at little league games and other venues:

Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

Jemimah J, Jane Green

The Creation of Eve, by Lynn Cullen (forthcoming in March, someone was reading an advance copy)

The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, Tucker Max

Spiced: A Pastry Chef's True Stories of Trials By Fire... , Dalia Jurgensen

Girls in Trucks, Katie Crouch

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

I'm in No Mood for Love, Rachel Gibson

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Twilight, Stephanie Meyer

Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney

Nixonland, Rick Perlstein

The End of Your World, Adyashanti

The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of The World, Haruki Murakami

Too Big To Fail, Andrew Ross Sorkin

The Magicians, Lev Grossman

Treatise on the Great Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Volume I, by Tsong Khapa (that was me reading on the 6 train)

We all have different ways of discovering books, and spotting them being read in public is just one. At Huffington Post, we are very interested in what people are reading around the country, and in particular we'd love to know what books you have seen being read in public. Just as we are now posting your reader recommendations, we'll post what you've spotted. So leave a comment letting us know the title and the venue in which the book was being read -- waiting room, bus, park bench, café, restaurant, airplane, airport, train, etc. -- or send e-mails to [e-mail]. And let us know what you think of the books being mentioned.

 

Follow Amy Hertz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/amymegahertz

Comments

[princeza]

09:21 PM on 11/01/2009

When I lived in Beijing, I was either reading or studying German on the metros and buses. Unfortunately, no public transit where I live now, and no good cafes to read in (unless you count a local Ben & Jerry's or Dunkin' Donuts). I try to read at work, but there's only one day when my usual break/lunch hangout person isn't there. In Beijing though, I liked seeing what other people were reading when I could read the cover (I can't read Chinese). It was interesting to see the other languages represented on the metro and bus.

[LauraLuella]

10:01 AM on 10/29/2009

Also, I heard one of the most public train/book conversations ever about some urban erotica by Pynk. I was on the 2 train and two women (strangers) practically at opposite ends of the car were recommending and bonding over their love her her novels. It was great to hear such a public convo about reading!

[LauraLuella]

09:56 AM on 10/29/2009

This morning on the F train I saw a guy reading an advance copy of the Unauthorized Simpson's Biography.

[bzb]

08:14 AM on 10/29/2009

"Middlesex" is by far one of my favorite top 5 books of all time. I often give that book as birthday gifts.

[3fingerbrown]

07:51 AM on 10/28/2009

I'm an inveterate subway-book snooper myself. There was one gentleman I saw every morning with a trashy detective novel and a ballpoint pen. He'd sit totally engrossed in the book, occasionally underlining a passage or making a note in the margin.

This went on for two months with the same 190-page potboiler. What was he up to? Was he a screenwriter adapting the novel? A publisher? A novice criminal looking for tricks of the trade? An author teaching himself how to write a detective story? Was he trying to conquer some kind of reading disability?

My curiosity finally got the best of me, and I asked him. He responded in a Russian accent thicker than borscht. He said he was an engineer in Russia and came to New York speaking no English. While working for a Russian import company, he was teaching himself English by studying popular fiction. He hoped to master the language sufficiently to resume his career as an engineer and teacher. He studied detective novels because they contained lots of vernacular and idiomatic expressions (the trickiest part of learning any second language).

I haven't seen him for a while. I bet he got that engineering job he aimed for. Another case of better living through subway reading.

By the way, Amy, if in the next few weeks you happen to see a heart-breakingly adorable fellow on the N Train reading Barabara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror," please come over and say hello--it's me!

[brettrobbins]

01:10 AM on 10/28/2009

Why depend on anecdotal evidence? http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller/

[whit4brains]

07:12 PM on 10/27/2009

I'm lucky enough to get to read at work when we are slow.

Right now I am reading "The Family:The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" by Jeff Sharlet. So far very interesting!

[Modesto]

04:58 PM on 10/27/2009

Tao of Wu, by RZA, of the WU-Tang Clan!!! Super great book... I saw myself reading twice now, haha

[BlackTom]

03:23 PM on 10/27/2009

Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong

[kareemachan]

03:19 PM on 10/27/2009

I'd like to let people know about Book Crossings (bookcrossings.com), where you leave books in public places for other to find, and hopefully, read. You enter the books you leave, put a tracking number in the book, and then see where it goes. It's fun, interesting, and some of the books have traveled a long, long way!

[whit4brains]

07:09 PM on 10/27/2009

That sounds really cool. Thanks for the info. I will be checking it out.

[arusticat]

10:33 PM on 10/31/2009

Bookcrossing is great. If Johnny Appleseed existed, why not Johnny Bookseed?

Another venue - leaving books in laundromats is a good way to "spread the wealth".

[max08]

02:16 PM on 10/27/2009

The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga.

[MixinUpMedicine]

01:09 PM on 10/27/2009

I just sent off an email to my friend yesterday about reading. Last night I finished my 12th book of the yr (some longer than others), which kinda surprised me I had read that many, as I sometimes get lazy in my reading habits. I also gave him a list of books I was planning on reading, especially since he wants to read of my books.

I won't bore anyone w/ the whole list, but probably the best book I read was Profiles In Courage by JFK. Found it really informative in the partisan debate on health care reform (and sad that so few Republicans find the political courage to do what's right, instead of what's Right).

[condor101]

11:32 AM on 10/27/2009

I love reading a book on the train. It makes the trip go faster. The only problem is the distraction made from the beggers who loudly infiltrate my train car. Then I put my head phones and listen to some music as I continue reading.

[garygach]

10:45 AM on 10/27/2009

You hit a chord here, Amy. I've yet to see anyone in the act of reading one of my books, but as a book reader, for decades and decades now I've found myself catching myself "spying" whenever I see someone on a bus or at a cafe with ... a book. That rare boulder of civilization, a book! These days, it's mostly either a cellphone or an iPod, isn't it? On the bus, a newspaper was more common than a book (that too becoming a dinosaur) — and at a cafe, the sight of a book is a rare bird given how everyone now seems to have a laptop with their latté these days.

Yesterday, I noted a guy at the French cafe (Polk Gulch, San Francisco, the sunny side of the street) reading Harlot's Ghost by Norman Mailer ... hard not to notice; thick book with prominent lettering on cover. But if I can't make out the title, I like playing a game of matching up the cover with the face : who is reading a thick pocketbook potboiler ... who, a law textbook ... who, a library hardback ... who, a Penguin Clasic ... sort of like noting dogs and their walkers ... the similarities ...

PS
I also have a ritual I'd invite others to consider : if I see an open book has been placed face down in public, I pick it up, and read a few lines, so it doesn't fall asleep, or feel neglected

[Amy Hertz]

05:55 PM on 10/27/2009

Makes me miss San Francisco...

[cktirumalai]

09:37 AM on 10/27/2009

On the Washington Metro, which I ride every day, you see quite a few reading modern romance novels. Some may even hope to write one some day--or at least fantasize about it. Washington being full of wonkish types, some read books on policy, which the romance readers would have little interest in. A few years ago every other person seemd to be reading Dan Brown's "Code." I am waiting for the new Brown to strike on the Metro again.