I bring books everywhere. On the way on the elevator to lunch. Never know when you can get a few pages in. Like the movies before it starts or online with the kids for tickes for some game. What is the oddest place you have ever brought a book to read and actually read a few pages. I have read books at Giant football games, Yankee games, in line for the World Series, before movies. Anyone else have some places that you want to share.

I always carry a book when I might have to wait, including the dentist's chair. Yeah, I'm a readaholic.

Let's see. This week, I read my book while waiting for the ticket office line to clear out before one of my daughter's concerts. I also read in line last November while waiting to vote in the Presidential election. Any where that I have more than five minutes of wait time, I'm reading.

Welcome to Readaholics not-so-Anonymous. :)

I'm a readaholic too. I take a book everywhere.

I think the strangest place was a casino. Well really a slots parlor. My family wanted to go. When I ran out of money, I sat in the lounge with my free drink and read my book while they were still gambling.

I read a book on a multihull snorkle boat on the webbing between the floats on my honeymoon while my wife was in the cabin.

Inside a nuclear submarine.

Lara Amber (Navy brat)

I'd forgotten about the service, Lara Amber. I used to carry one in the Army & read while waiting to board planes & while flying someplace to jump out of them. Several of my Zelazny books have at least a few jumps each.

When a kid I used a 'Holy Bible' book cover to hide SFF books I was reading when forced to go to church until I was discovered and Mom said, "Oh Billy! How could you..." ;-)

Now I carry a book with me at all times in case I get stuck somewhere.

Jim wrote: "Several of my Zelazny books have at least a few jumps each.

I love that! Yes, you should always have a book handy - otherwise you'll be stuck somewhere with that elusive extra moment of time and be thinking "I wish I had a book" . . .

I'm a proud Readaholic and completely not a sports fan SO when my family had great tickets for a football bowl game, I went and took a book. Sat there in the stands and read for the entire game. It was a bit annoying when people kept jumping up and down to cheer but otherwise fine.

Odd place #2 would be at the hospital labor & delivery wing. My sister was in labor with my 1st niece for 10+ hours. It's the type of situation where you feel like you can't leave but you can't really do anything to help either. SO I read an entire Terry Practhett novel - Making Money to be precise. I would have been a complete mess if not for the comfort of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. I can't wait until my niece is old enough to read it too!

My wife & I always take books to the hospital, but never got much reading done when she was in labor. She was too uncomfortable & I was just in a daze. I'd read the same paragraph over & over & still not get it. It's the one time TV trumped a book.

With my second son, Dr. London was laying across the bottom of my wife's bed watching 'Hill Street Blues' when a nurse came in & caught him. She was a grump. He popped her water & we had to get down to business. We wound up missing the rest of that episode, darn it.

Jim wrote: "I'd forgotten about the service, Lara Amber. I used to carry one in the Army & read while waiting to board planes & while flying someplace to jump out of them. Several of my Zelazny books have at..."

The leg pouch in BDUs is the perfect size for a mass market paperback. :)

I guess my oddest spot was on a stretcher waiting to go into surgery. I was nervous. :D

Under the Christmas tree, so the lights would dance across the page. But, I don't think that's any more weird than people reading in the tub. I've never understood that.

Laurel wrote: "But, I don't think that's any more weird than people reading in the tub. I've never understood that."

Well baths are nice for relaxing and reading is nice for relaxing. And when you're dealing with baths which can take a few hours so you want something to help occupy yourself. :)

Maybe its that I'm a shower person. I could stay in there for days! But, I'll take your word for it and give it another try. If reading is involved, it has to be good!

Laurel wrote: "Maybe its that I'm a shower person. I could stay in there for days! But, I'll take your word for it and give it another try. If reading is involved, it has to be good!"

I second the reading in the tub - it's a great way to relax and enjoy a book

I can't do the reading in the tub, I always worry about getting my book wet! I'm just not a tub person anyways though, I'd rather relax curled up with a blanket in a deep chair or sofa.

I'm another who always has books with her - I'll read stopped in traffic and waiting on line anywhere.

The last Mets game my father ever insisted I go to with him and my brother, was the one where I started a new book in the car on the way to the game and just read straight through the game. (The cheering was distracting, but I was able to block it out.) I finished the book sometime in the 8th inning, stretched, looked around, and asked my dad how long until the game was over. That was definitely the LAST game I went to. = )

Oh, and I got in trouble for reading in class in elementary school during math - I'd prop my math textbook up on my desk and open my book to read inside it. Worked really well, for a while. = )

I just locked myself out of the house but luckily there were 2 sf books in the garage -- little dust covered but was able to read 55 pp b4 the au pair came back to the house. She said to me you have books everywhere -- exactly never know when your gonna need em

Very smart, Jeffrey!

I take a book everywhere, too, sometimes several so that if I finish one I have a new one to read that I will enjoy. I carry a largish purse for that reason and I'm sure most people think I'm a typical woman with a hairbrush and makeup in my bag. Nope, just books.

I read my way through Africa and India, so I probably read sitting on the steps of a temple and in a canoe in the Okavanga Delta and in a tent on safari with hippos braying a few feet away. I spent plenty of time looking and listening and learning but I had to read, too--it was my vacation!

Kelly,

That's one reason I love my Kindle. It fits perfectly in my purse and is so nice and slim, I was always carrying books in my hand, since they never fit.

Lara Amber

Yeah. I got the Kindle for my last birthday from my brother and sisters, but have not cracked it open b/c I am not commuting. Commuting is a reader's best friend.

Carolyn - I did that, too, hid books behind text books in class. The teacher would confiscate them, when I got caught, and keep them (agony if the story was good!) until the end of the school year.

Made for some hefty library fines.

I did a whole lot of reading after hours, as a kid, too, hiding the activity with flashlights under the blankets in bed....horrid timing, when the batteries died, reading the sections on Gollum in the Hobbit! I don't think I slept the rest of the night.

Janny wrote: "I did a whole lot of reading after hours, as a kid, too, hiding the activity with flashlights under the blankets in bed...."

Oh, I did that all the time too!! = )
I had totally forgotten that until you mentioned it!

Jeffrey,

Trust me, once you start using your Kindle, you will never go back to DTB. I take it everywhere and read everywhere.

Lara Amber

I felt a little conspicuous the time is was reading one of my Urban Fantasy books while sitting on a couch in the waiting area in The House Majority Leader's office. I was waiting for a friend who works there to finish up so we could go to dinner. The office is pretty darn fancy, much more so even than regular House offices. But I didn't let the antiques or crystal chandeliers intimidate me. I'm proud of my reading habits, silly books and all.

As for the kindle issue, I do a lot of reading on my iPhone now and it's great for a wide range of don't-let-Mom-know-I'm-reading-under-the-covers through baby-is-sleeping-on-my-lap situations because it's got it's own light and makes no noise turning pages, plus in the baby situation, I can turn them one-handed and without jostling. Not to mention at line at the DMV, doc's office, etc. Handy. Whatever device you use, it's pretty cool to have so many books to choose from right at your fingertips, lightweight and ready to go. Never thought I'd dig it, but I do! But now I look like one of those people who's always on their phone in public. Oh well!

Catherine wrote: "Whatever device you use, it's pretty cool to have so many books to choose from right at your fingertips, lightweight and ready to go. Never thought I'd dig it, but I do!"

I totally agree with you. I started reading ebooks back in 1998. I was really resistant at the beginning and swore it would never be as good as curling up with a normal book. By the time I'd finished my first book on the device, I was completely sold.

I'm also currently using my phone for ebooks and at this point I prefer them to print. Its so easy to be able to shove it in my pocket and take off.

I want a Kindle so much I can't stand it. JEALOUS! :)

Well I like the Kindle concept but library books are free and kindle books are still not.

Jeffrey wrote: "Well I like the Kindle concept but library books are free and kindle books are still not."

True - and I can't tell you how many interesting conversations I've had with complete strangers after noticing their book cover - for example, at the airport or a restaurant. I love coming across other Fantasy fans. I'd miss out on that with Kindle

That's true, but the reverse is also true. You can read anything you want without someone commenting on it. Like romance novels but don't want people peering down their nose because you're a smart professional woman (or a man), get a Kindle. Don't want your friends teasing you about reading a teen series as an adult? Ditto. Tired of having people come harass you over some controversial title you're reading? Ditto again.

Jeffrey, you're right about library books, but you'd be surprised by how many titles you can get for free (and even more for $1). I got Red Mars, Assassin's Apprentice, and His Majesty's Dragon all for free from the Kindle store.

Lara Amber

If I ever start commuting again I think it will come in handy.

True, true, and that's exactly where I get most of my books. I do feel guilty for not supporting the authors directly, though.

Kelly,

That's an interesting thought one I've never considered before. If Libraries did not have an old and secure tradition in this country...well could you imagine someone suggesting the idea today for the first time? I suppose it would be equivalent to Napster and promptly shut down.

I have a hard time thinking of another industry that produces a product for sale, but also allows you to use that same product for free. Even DVD rentals (which are not free) don't usually come out concurrent with the movie in order to avoid hurting theater sales.

Books used to cost a great deal of money, and poor people couldn't afford them. To assist education, libraries were created to provide books to people who would not otherwise be able to purchase them, but with the invention of the mass-market paperback, which at one time sold for less than a dollar, this stopped being the case.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against libraries, except that I can never fathom how they organize their books (why can't they shelves them as simply as a bookstore by category and author's last name?) And my wife Robin is an avid user. In fact, I am still trying to get my novels into libraries (I only am presently in six across the country.) But your post just made me pause and think how odd it is that they are allowed to exist at all as I suspect the vast majority of library users are not those for whom it was invented.

Personally, I'm one of those people who likes to keep everything I read for future reference so I buy them (and of course I can never find any books in a library.)

The oddest place I ever brought a fantasy book to read? A 6K run in Ann Arbor MI. The book was Orwell's 1984 and it was 1984.

I think libraries were created as repositories of knowledge. Their ability to store information for many people is one of the great features of countries.

In any event, getting a book out of the library is supporting authors. First the library buys most famous authors to begin with, and many copies of their books,and the library in the next town over does the same, and so on. So, James Patterson can be assured of selling hundreds of books to libraries to people who would not ordinarily shell out $28 for his latest title. Second, maybe Joe goes to the library and has never heard of James Patterson and reads his latest book. He then decides I like this guy I will buy his next book or I will continue to read him thereby influencing the library to continue to buy more Patterson books. Third, maybe the library buys an author that no one has ever heard of based solely on the review in Library Journal or Publishers Weekly that most of us do not read. Again, the library is first buying the book --thereby helping the author out and second the person reading the book may be inclined to read another book of the author or the library will stock more books of the author. I personally have a ton of books in my house, probably well over 1500, but most are for sf or fantasy where libraries were not getting the books and they are paperbacks. They take up a lot of space -- which is another reason libraries come in handy b/c people do not like to fill their houses with tons of books they can get them from the libraries which have th space.

In any event I doubt that your point about library uses is accurate. I think the vast amount of people who frequent libraries is exactly the people it was invented for.

Libraries - how could I do without them?

They taught me to read, when, as a child, my little allowance wouldn't have gotten so much as a comic!

They keep books available that are not ever going to be on the shelf at a bookstore. They make books available that would, not in any shape or form, turn a "profit" in today's marketplace. They are golden repositories of research books, and I can call any title in, from anywhere, by interlibrary loan.

I buy books and support living authors - one book in half the libraries in the US would support an author's whole livelihood.

They make knowledge available to all, regardless of background.

Libraries - how could I do without them?

They taught me to read, when, as a child, my little allowance wouldn't have gotten so much as a comic!

They keep books available that are not ever going to be on the shelf at a bookstore. They make books available that would, not in any shape or form, turn a "profit" in today's marketplace. They are golden repositories of research books, and I can call any title in, from anywhere, by interlibrary loan.

I buy books and support living authors - one book in half the libraries in the US would support an author's whole livelihood.

They make knowledge available to all, regardless of background. The keep books that are in and out of print available, too, and in some countries, they even pay authors based on book circulation.

Unlike a "napster" which just stole - libraries pay for their copies legitimately - they don't buy bootleg product.

BIG SECRET REVEALED! LOL!

So, back in the day, when I worked as a stocker/cashier person things could get really boring. I would always wear tight jeans and a very loose top to work. I would put whatever paperback I was reading (hardcovers were just too big) into my pants at the small of my back.... I was always going to the bathroom to read when I was bored.

Ah - such at bad employee at 18!

Shhh... don't tell anyone!

I used to work at Great Adventure in NJ and would read books as I walked in and out of the park. I also read books as I go up escalators. However, its funny now how many people who used to say what are you doing read their blackberries in the same situation.

I actually am fond to walking to work while reading. At night I use my keychain light to light my book up. Surprised I haven't been killed yet.

Zen, your story reminded me of my time working at Borders (I chose my summer jobs in grad school based on where I wanted a discount). It was pretty much par for the course there for employees to spend our hour lunch break reading, but I didn't stop there. When I was out on the floor stocking the Lit section (my section), I would work quickly on stocking the books, then sit down and read a chapter at a time, right out there on the floor. Or when I had to go back to get more books from the back to put out, I'd do likewise.

The weird thing is that the managers were consistently telling me what a great job I was doing, how quickly and well I got my job done...imagine what I could have done if I'd been really dedicated!

As an aside, working at Border's really was a pretty sweet job. Beyond the discounts--which were pretty good and would have been even better if I'd been full-time--they encouraged us to use the store like a library, taking books home with us, because they wanted us to be knowledgeable about what we were selling. Plus, at least at our store, most everyone there were avid readers and interesting people.

Back to the library question, briefly: As much as I love owning my books and am enjoying ebooks, owning them all is just not an option financially. I read too much! Without my amazing local libraries I'd go nuts, or broke, probably both. I just find ideas about what I want to read, mostly here, and then request what I want. I can ever link right from a book page to WorldCat and my local library. Within a few days it shows up, like a gift. Free fun.

Michael wrote: "Kelly,

That's an interesting thought one I've never considered before. If Libraries did not have an old and secure tradition in this country...well could you imagine someone suggesting the idea to..."

There are things (ideas) and thinking things (people; after Berkeley) and we are naturally free to manipulate (imagine) the things they think. Some thinking things, to serve their own interests, have convinced us to abandon our natural right to ideas, for the sake of property (just another idea). Our intellectual property laws are crazy, and just unnatural.

Probably the oddest place I've tried to read is while I'm driving (alone, and usually on flat, straight desert roads). I was encouraged to try this by a friend who used to take naps the same way--lock onto a straight road, close his eyes, and count to 100. I just thought I should add this, to place my propertarian views in perspective.

David wrote: Our intellectual property laws are crazy, and just unnatural.

Without strong intellectual property laws, writers, artists, musicians, and anyone who makes a living by creation, would have no protections for their work and would therfore be unable to earn a fair wage/profit for their work. That's why such laws are neccesary in a world where there are many, many unscrupulous predators out there only too ready to steal and profit from an another person's hard work.

Just my opinion.

Why take something as beautiful as creative ideation, and make it all about money?

Intellectual property laws are there to allow corporations to control ideas--supporting the only goal a corporation is capable of (justifying its own existence by generating profit).

When you generate a unique idea you have two choices--you can let other people know about it, or you can keep it to yourself. If you keep it to yourself, you have a reasonable expectation to control the idea. If you publish the idea, you place it in the intellectual common, and the expectation for continued control is unreasonable. You certainly shouldn't expect to maintain control beyond the grave.

Why would a society chose to grant a perpetual copyright? Why would we give Monsanto a patent on wheat? Someone has obviously convinced us that such is in our social interest. Who would do that, and why?

David wrote: "Why take something as beautiful as creative ideation, and make it all about money?

Intellectual property laws are there to allow corporations to control ideas--supporting the only goal a corpora..."

David - that is one view, seen from one perspective, but it's a bit more complex than that.

Idea creation - just daydreamed in soliloquy - has no substance to it. That takes little effort and is not placed in any format to be shared.

But the minute an idea created is made transferrable - written down, put into a format that can be passed along and shared - it requires someBODY's work to do so.

Either a body of ONE, to translate the idea into a physical format able to be shared - or BODYS, plural, to do the production, distribution, sales, etc.

Ideas that are made into substantial form are not "free" - bodies that do this work have to support themselves. Just as "food" grown by farmers is not "free" - information is an idea made substance that others share for intellectual sustenance and expansion.

As long as we are physical, this has a 'cost' - in lifetime effort and hours.

For creativity to be shared widely - that takes more effort still.

Corporations sometimes are greedy. Not always. Sometimes they are reasonably attempting to make livelihood and provide jobs.

It is not about Money - it is about fair return for effort, and given that the larger majority of writers of fiction, anyway, do NOT make a living at it - and given that of the ones who do, MOST make a quite scarily modest one - only a few "superstars" really rake it...and given, too, that all the editors I know get a salary I'd be horrified to feed a collie on...it's more about love than money.

What messes up the equation is the Harvard Business School model of measuring "profit and loss" on a quarterly timescale, stock market driven...it shortens the view the corporate board takes, and makes for some awfully blindered decisions.

I am not saying corporage greed does NOT exist - but publishing is run on SUCH a narrow margin - it's quite not true, that publishing "rakes it in" at the expense of the public - there are horridly destructive practices in the industry that require a major overhaul - and that is hindered, believe it or not, by the anti trust laws, among other things - and for one publisher, say, to stop the problem of paperback returns, and NOT move as a body on the issue - means that forward-thinking publisher gets rewarded by bankruptcy - the margins ARE that narrow.

Ideas made form are NOT free - people who print, package, ship, edit, sell, open cartons, work on publicity, sales - all of those DESERVE a job to feed their families.

I see corporate publishing as a co-operative that lets everyone use their abilities - and leaves the author who WISHES the chance of making a living - free to use ALL THEIR TIME to create and produce what they do best. It means, more books, better craft, and not exhausting creativity better spent writing in a "day job" - never mind if you view the end product as something worthy or not.

This is the high ground look - permanent copyright is ridiculous, yes, but the information age is ripping right heck out of the idea that a fair day's work, on ANY count, gets a fair, living wage. I am talking a living wage, not "superstardom."

The issue is not about "totalitarian" control of an idea - but respect for what it took to generate it. Respect for the right to feed a family, and be rewarded for very hard work.

The "ideas are free" concept manytimes does not involve due respect - and disregards that sometimes, a lifetime ABLE to be devoted to art evolves a better artist.

Each artist IS free to choose how to disseminate their work - they CAN make their way without a corporation behind them, yes, and this choice is always open.

What Leslie meant - perhaps - and what I am pointing out - sometimes a corporate publisher is the TEAM behind the writer, enabling us to do what we do best.

Without strong copyright laws, written with respect, that CHOICE - of making a living - could be eroded away, at the detriment of our collective society's wealth of IDEAS.

There is a balance. Neither extreme is a good thing, but understanding the dynamics involved is helpful - many people are going to be impacted by the evolution in "intellectual property rights"

I am much more concerned with a certain search engine entity's grab for such "rights", ongoing now, than any publisher.

Intellectual Property

Well, I am coming from the different perspective of academic fair use, which, I think has eroded over my lifetime. It’s a question of academic freedom: students and teachers should not be constrained as to the ideas they mutually choose to explore—which freedom has to be extended to the participants of any group of friends (like us) who are using ideas and social interaction to improve their own understanding. The justification for this is that individual understanding improves the quality of life for everyone, making life less “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” (Hobbes had the courtesy to write Leviathan in English, in 1651, and so the text is now in the public domain.) I can only speak for myself, but I see current intellectual property laws as unresponsive to the social needs that justify them.

The written word derives from a long trail of social cooperation. Writers warrant social support, because a world without The Sound and the Fury is impoverished, but extrinsic incentives seem historically irrelvant (most of the writers I've known write because they have to--it's part of their core identity). And current literary diversity would seem to indicate that the environment is much healthier than it was when I was young (okay, I suppose this might derive from stronger copyright laws, but I think it is because the point-sources of publication have diversified). The problem is that when copyright laws are seen as inequitable (at least, I see them this way), they tend to erode the social willingness to support any copyright laws. I’m not convinced that this is a bad thing, but it could be, and I think we should look for other alternatives.

You've probably thought about this more than I have. How long should a copyright extend? Shouldn’t there be a difference between the copyright duration for an original work, as opposed to a translation?

To get back on topic. Reading in the bath has such dangers, the water goes cold and then you don't want to move for fear of shivering, and then you simply have to. And there are always dangers of splashing and dropping!

Jonathan wrote: "To get back on topic. Reading in the bath has such dangers, the water goes cold and then you don't want to move for fear of shivering, and then you simply have to. And there are always dangers of s..."

Funny you mention that because I will only read replaceable paperbacks in teh tub - just in case one gets dropped. I forgo hardbacks and any treasured books.

the only book I ever dropped in the tub was Leviathan (Hobbes), and it did pretty much wreck it (affected the paper sizing), but I was too cheap to buy a new one (or too obsessive to throw out the old one).

I have a huge tub,and I will fill it with skin scortching hat water and soak the day away about once a week. More than once I have falklen assleep and had a book go swimming.

I read everywhere, As a kid I would ride my bike to school wiht a book on the handle bars.

I read while on the treadmill (as I walk it, not run it). Also, if it is a really good book, I will take it along with me while I water my plants, hose in one hand, open book in the other. The tub had always been one of my favorite places until I bought my present house. The bathtub (soon to be replaced) is not comfortable for soaking.