Where Do You Read?
I was so excited on a recent trip to one of Oklahoma City’s finer fast food establishments to notice a woman a few booths over reading a massive novel while immersed in her burger and fries. At the time I was balancing my tray of food and a hardcover novel and trying to scope out my own quiet corner to eat and read. I probably get the majority of my reading done during one-hour lunch escapes like this, and I’m always curious about other people’s reading practices.
I’m guessing most folks don’t retire to their personal wood-paneled libraries to recline in an overstuffed chair while perusing leather-bound classics, puffing on a pipe, and adjusting their ascots. Personally, I’m way more likely to drag my book along on solo dining-out missions where I try to prop it up against a convenient sugar-and-Sweet-N-Low holder. It’s another good reason to read used books or well-thumbed library copies — a nice loose binding makes it easier to keep pages open while negotiating with knife, fork, drink, and napkin.
As for home reading, even though we have a couple of designated reading chairs with handy lights in a TV-free room, I usually find myself sprawled on the floor with an overdue library book and a cat who likes to try to turn the pages for me. I’m also likely to stay up way too late in bed trying to finish a chapter while awkwardly arranging a pile of pillows to bring a book near eye level.
I have a friend who makes sure to have a book in the car at all times to sneak in a few pages at extra-long stoplights. I can also relate to another friend who really doesn’t mind long waiting room delays at the doctor’s office because she can knock out a few more pages of reading in the meantime. One technique I’ve never perfected is reading-while-walking, which I sometimes see downtown workers attempting in hallways or on the sidewalk with mixed, occasionally life-threatening results.
My dad lives in Florida and has staked out a particular spot at the beach in the shade of a sea grape tree where he alternates reading and staring out at the ocean. There might not be a better venue for reflecting on anything from a philosophical treatise to a trashy paperback. I’ve never perfected outdoor reading in Oklahoma, where the wind can rip a hardcover right out of your hands and the red dirt lodges uncomfortably between pages like peas in the princess’s mattresses.
Public transportation is immeasurably improved by bringing along an appropriately sized paperback or an easily foldable magazine, and multi-taskers like my wife can easily read while the TV is on or the stereo is providing an ambient soundtrack. I should also look into one of those bathtub devices on which a book can be rested while turning pages with pruney fingers.
I’m pretty dedicated to the reading-while-eating lifestyle myself, although certain titles like Eric Schlosser’s brilliant and horrifically graphic Fast Food Nation don’t exactly lend themselves to enjoyment over a plate of genetically modified, biologically hazardous, chemically altered cheeseburger and fries.
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Comments
Let’s see…I definitely do a lot of my reading propped up in bed, but I also read in a comfortable chair, and at restaurants (especially on the weekend). When I visit my sister, I sometimes find a comfortable position on the floor to read.
Like Kitty, there’s no way I would get on a plane without a book. It’s the only way to enjoy flying (if that’s even possible) as far as I’m concerned. I’d love to see train travel come back to this country. I’ve never read on a train and it pretty much sounds like heaven. Which reminds me, I read on a bus trip to New Orleans once. Thank God I had a book!
I can read pretty much anywhere that isn’t in motion – no cars, etc. I could read on an airplane, but I think that is mostly because I couldn’t see the moving scenery to throw of my senses. I think that mostly because I discovered quite by accident one night that I could in fact read in a car – by booklight because it was DARK! However, my preferred spot is in a reclined couch seat or recliner. Easiest to hold the books that way, plus read comfortably. When I was younger, a porch seat in the breeze was a favorite, also.
[...] There were some great responses to the question from a couple of weeks ago, “Where Do You Read?” [...]
One place I’ve read was on the back of my husband’s motorcycle, you’d be surprised that there is a wind free place directly behind the driver. You do get some strange looks from the other drivers however.
Librarians seem to have an intense and almost irrational fear of being aboard an airplane and finishing their book without another one handy. Many of us haul around at least two or three for these emergencies.
And I have pulled out a book in particularly long lines at grocery stores, and pharmacies. This does seems to be disconcerting to the checkout people, but it keeps me out of the candy, gadgets, etc trying to tempt me before last minute checkout.