I came upon this article, written a couple of days ago. I apologise for it's London-ness, but I think this sums up pretty much how I feel about this subject.
When I was frequently using the tube (that was every working day for the past 10 years up to about 6 months ago), I enjoyed observing the phases and the popularity of the books that tube readers went through. Captain Correlli, White Teeth, Brick Lane, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - of course the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potters too - pretty much all year staples, especially the 3 years when the LOR films made their mark. In fact, I came about buying certain books as I'd seen so many people on the tube reading them and I've had some really good discussions with complete strangers that stemmed from what either they or myself were reading. OK, if on the rare occasion when I've forgotten my book (or horror of horrors - finishes it whilst on route..), then I do glance through the 'free papers' but quite often the banality gives me a headache. As a naturally curious (some may say nosy even) social observer, the only thing I miss about the tube is seeing what books people are reading at the mo.
When I was frequently using the tube (that was every working day for the past 10 years up to about 6 months ago), I enjoyed observing the phases and the popularity of the books that tube readers went through. Captain Correlli, White Teeth, Brick Lane, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - of course the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potters too - pretty much all year staples, especially the 3 years when the LOR films made their mark.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I came about buying certain books as I'd seen so many people on the tube reading them and I've had some really good discussions with complete strangers that stemmed from what either they or myself were reading.
OK, if on the rare occasion when I've forgotten my book (or horror of horrors - finishes it whilst on route..), then I do glance through the 'free papers' but quite often the banality gives me a headache.
As a naturally curious (some may say nosy even) social observer, the only thing I miss about the tube is seeing what books people are reading at the mo.