3. A book that was being read by a stranger in a public place

[Jess]

Today I saw:

Police
Down and Out in Paris and London
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

[VanesGirl]

On The train i saw

Elf Tage in Berlin: Roman german version of Elva dagar i Berlin by Hakan Nesser

Who the Fuck Is Kafka

[Eujean2]

More books being read in public by strangers:

- The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
- Mapping the World
- Smoke Eaters
- Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge
- The Kiss Quotient
- The Three-Body Problem
- Truly Madly Guilty
- The Night Masquerade

As it happens, I just finished The Night Masquerade last night & really enjoyed it. You can read any book in Binti series and count it for prompt #110, as I recommend them all. (They should be read in order.)

[Diane]

Unqualified by Anna Farris was being read by someone on the cruise ship this past weekend. I forgot to take my walk around the pool specifically to find people reading so this is the only one I found.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

A couple days ago was the closest I've come to seeing a stranger reading in public with my own eyes for this challenge: Someone at the restaurant I was at had The Lightning Thief sitting at the table next to them, though closed at the moment.

I've already read that one, so it doesn't help me out a lot anyway, but it is nice to see that people in my town to occasionally take their books out for airings.

[poshpenny]

Recent sightings:

The Secret History
Graceling
PathFinder
Facing Love Addiction: Giving Yourself the Power to Change the Way You Love
Fundamentals Of Chinese Medicine

[Megan]

At the Kennedy Center a few weeks ago, I saw a woman holding Wolf Hall

[Sarah]

I spotted Uncommon Type: Some Stories on the train today. I had no idea Tom Hanks had written a book!

[Charlsa]

On a six hour plane ride, I saw

Anna Karenina and

Exit West.

At the beach today, I have seen

The Neon Wilderness,

Desolation Angels,

Little Deaths which the lady reading it said “was not good”, and

Still Me.

[Kim]

Monkiecat wrote: "I go to the library a couple times a week so that feels like cheating, so I've been hoping to catch someone reading in the wild and last week I finally did! I was taking my son to ice skating lesso..."


Score! I haven't read it, but loved the mini series!

[Kim]

Johanne wrote: "So, after seeing quite a few people reading books where I couldn´t see the cover, I saw someone reading Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer on the train. A book I actuall..."

What a coincidence! I have finally decided to include books I've seen people reading in movies (I don't commute, but I do live in a big city, and I should be able to spot a reader in the wild, but just in case...), and I saw the main character (a biologist) reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, in the movie, Annihilation!

[Nadine in NY]

Charlsa wrote: "On a six hour plane ride, I saw

Anna Karenina and

Exit West.


..."

whoa. Reading Anna Karenina on a plane ride is hardcore. I can't focus well enough on a plane for something like that!!

[Abbie]

I was actually really excited about this one because it's perfect for a book I've had on my list since last fall, The Tsar of Love and Techno. I saw a man reading it at the gate at the airport and was totally taken with the title. He ended up sitting in the row in front of me so I asked him about it as we were deplaning and he said he was loving it. Just picked up a copy today so it'll probably be my next read!

[Anabell]

Updating live from Gatwick Airport (UK)
I have taken a round saw a man but couldn’t see the cover.

Another one was reading A Necessary Evil. Sorry couldn’t see the author and can’t add book on the app. (EDIT)

On the tube yesterday I saw one reading
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (keep thinking I can use it as an animal before I for the 1000 times have to tell myself “nope it’s not elephant ;-)

Will take another round looking creepy before boarding my flight ...

(EDIT) saw these walking around the airport. Last time I do that. Felt like an idiot and it is really difficult to see the front when people are reading.

How to Stop Time
Final Girls
Norse Mythology
Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi, and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome

And a spanish book with the title ''manual pera dones de fer deines'' but I can't figure out what the title would be in English it makes a weird translation in google. But thought there might be spanish people here that could figure it out or wanted to read it?!

[Milena]

Very happy to see lots of people reading actual books on my commute yesterday, but the only one I was able to get a peek at was Red Sparrow.

[Charlsa]

Nadine wrote: "Charlsa wrote: "On a six hour plane ride, I saw

Anna Karenina and

Exit West.


..."

whoa. Reading Anna Karenina on a plane ride is hardcore. I can't focus well en..."


I think she only read for a couple of hours on the plane. If I don't fall asleep BEFORE the plane takes off, I can put in earbuds to shut out the noise and read for quite a while on the plane. I finished Mossad going out and Cold Wind, The Master Falconer (e-short book), and started The God Of Small Things coming back.

[Laura]

Abbie wrote: "I was actually really excited about this one because it's perfect for a book I've had on my list since last fall, The Tsar of Love and Techno. I saw a man reading it at the gate at ..."

I read his book A Constellation of Vital Phenomena for last year's challenge and really liked his style. I put The Tsar of Love and Techno on my list after that! Hope it's good.

[Deb]

I went by Rory Gilmore's list from Gilmore Girls, and landed on The Virgin Suicides!

[Katy]

I think the "book a stranger was reading in public" is going to be my most challenging prompt. Does anyone read books in public anymore?? Seems like people are either listening to books or reading them on their kindles or phones. Maybe I'll go hang out at Barnes and Noble...didn't have any luck at the library.

[Kim]

I thought this was going to be my hardest prompt, and then I met a former librarian who was reading while we waited for her husband and my friend to get out of surgery. I've talked my husband into doing the Popsugar challenge with me this year, and he was with me (I was knitting and he was reading, The Valley, by John Renahan, a novel about the war in Afghanistan), so both of us can use her book, A Deadly Thaw, by Sarah Ward.

We had a great conversation with the former librarian about books, and she showed me what her husband was reading, The Chequer Board, by Neville Shute. Ironically, I'm reading the same book at home! It's especially ironic because the book was published so long ago (1947). It's not like we were reading current bestsellers! My husband could kill two birds with one book, if he wants to read a book written the year he was born! (For the prompt to read a book that takes place in the decade in which you're born. I think the book was set in a contemporary setting, so it would count!)

...Not that we would actually use one book for two prompts, although I sometimes read more than one book for a prompt and then don't quite finish my list by the end of the year... but he would be able to tick two prompts from the two books that she showed us. Actually, I will too, because I'm already reading A Chequer Board, for a book about an antihero!)

[Cendaquenta]

Does it count if it's the author reading out their own work? Went to a book signing yesterday. It wasn't an author I'd ever read before, so technically a stranger.

[Anabell]

Monkiecat wrote: "Anabell wrote: "Updating live from Gatwick Airport (UK)
I have taken a round saw a man but couldn’t see the cover.

Another one was reading A Necessary Evil. Sorry couldn’t see the..."

Brilliant thanks for the translation. No wonder I couldn’t figure out the title. I had Spanish for 2 years but all I remember is how to order 2 beers and the google translation didn’t make any sense to me... Great deduction Monkiecat ...

[Diane]

Monkiecat wrote: "Anabell wrote: "Updating live from Gatwick Airport (UK)
I have taken a round saw a man but couldn’t see the cover.

Another one was reading A Necessary Evil. Sorry couldn’t see the..."
Hahahaha I thought it meant to clean women too. Sounds more interesting that way.

[Abbie]

Laura wrote: "Abbie wrote: "I was actually really excited about this one because it's perfect for a book I've had on my list since last fall, The Tsar of Love and Techno. I saw a man reading it a..."

I finished it a few days ago and it was beautiful! The structure reminded me quite a bit of Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, which also uses art and music as a thoroughfare through connected stories. The further I got into The Tsar of Love and Techno the richer it got since the stories/chapters layer over each other so well. Now I've added his first book to my list.

[Amanda]

I saw someone reading Les Misérables on the metro the other day. A little too ambitious for me this year. Maybe another time.

[Jess]

My most recent tube sightings

Frankenstein
Swing Time
Private

[Megan]

Update: I was at Heathrow yesterday and one of the guys waiting for the flight was reading Unmasked: A Memoir

[Diane]

This week I spotted
Tesla. Inventor de la era electrica
Anatomy of a Miracle
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
The Female Persuasion

[Crumb]

I feel like it is cheating unless I personally see the stranger reading the book..
I wish I weren't so strict with this challenge!
Anyway..
These are the books I've seen some strangers reading..
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
Christy by Catherine Marshall
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

Has anyone read any of those? Is there one better than the other?

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

Crumb wrote: "I feel like it is cheating unless I personally see the stranger reading the book..
I wish I weren't so strict with this challenge!
Anyway..
These are the books I've seen some strangers reading..
..."

I'll fill it with one from this thread or one of the instagram feeds if I have to, but I'm waiting until last to fill this prompt to see if I can actually spot a stranger reading myself.

The only one of those books I've read is Christy. It wasn't one of my most favorite, but I enjoyed it as a teenager. It's a slow drama type book, with some parts I found very harsh (though I was much younger then...), so you'd have to like that sort of thing for it to be worth it.

[Nadine in NY]

Crumb wrote: "I feel like it is cheating unless I personally see the stranger reading the book..
I wish I weren't so strict with this challenge!
Anyway..
These are the books I've seen some strangers reading..
..."

I'm having the same problem! I NEVER see people reading in public!! I'm trying to save this one for last (or close to last) in the hopes that I will actually see someone myself, but if not I'll be using one of the books from this post. (I haven't read any of those three you saw so I can't help you there!)

[Milena]

Crumb wrote: "I feel like it is cheating unless I personally see the stranger reading the book..
I wish I weren't so strict with this challenge!
Anyway..
These are the books I've seen some strangers reading..
..."

I really liked Manhattan Beach. I grew up in Brooklyn, so I was familiar with some of the locations and that helped my enjoyment. I can't speak for the other books.

[Kim]

Until I finally found a stranger reading in public, and not on a digital device, just a "real" book, LOL!, I was planning on reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. I saw a character reading it in the film, Annihilation. I was hoping for "an actual sighting in the wild", but that was going to be my "Plan B".

If anyone else saw that film this year, the main character, a biologist, was reading it on her sofa, early on in the film. ...I may have mentioned it in this thread earlier, if so, sorry!

[Jess]

Kim wrote: "Until I finally found a stranger reading in public, and not on a digital device, just a "real" book, LOL!, I was planning on reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca ..."

I saw that film just last weekend and commented on the book! It shows how rarely you see people reading in films. I was surprised though as I never read anything even slightly related to my work in my free time!

Its a great book by the way.

[Nadine in NY]

Jess wrote: "I was surprised though as I never read anything even slightly related to my work in my free time! ,..."

Same. I noticed that book right away, and that might be because you don't usually see someone reading in a movie. I also thought it was an odd choice - as if the props person said "quick! I need a book for the next scene! what would a biologist read?!" and someone else said "I've got a copy of Henrietta Lacks - it's about biology, give that to her!"

I never read books related to my job, or with characters who have a job like mine!! That one year when it was a category in the challenge, I was so stymied!!!

[Sarah]

Reader spotted today! He was reading Death Can't Take a Joke which looks like a sequel, so if you've read the first, here's your excuse to read the second.

[Melissa]

I spotted someone on the DC metro last week reading The Lying Game by Ruth Ware. Since I am trying to work my way through all of the Reese Witherspoon book club picks as a personal challenge, I decided to use this one to fill both challenges.

[Ellie]

Nadine wrote: "Jess wrote: "I was surprised though as I never read anything even slightly related to my work in my free time! ,..."

Same. I noticed that book right away, and that might be because you don't usual..."

I noticed it too but I don't think it's that odd. I know lot's of people who like to read about their work. My partner reads lots of tech and business books (I think he prefers non-fiction) and I've known people with science based jobs read popular science books. I guess it depends how into your job you are!

I think Douglas Coupland is the only person to ever write fiction about software testers so I don't come across it often myself!

[Diane]

Last week I had a lovely interaction with a man reading The Escape Artist in my local bookstore.

[Sarah]

I spotted someone reading Olivia's Dead on the train yesterday. Luckily the sun was shining so my sunglasses mostly hid my blatant staring as I tried to read the cover. I hope they did anyway!

[poshpenny]

I've been having a hard time catching titles lately

Cold Fire
Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal
Her Fearful Symmetry
Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution

[Darja]

Today I saw a guy reading The Son

[poshpenny]

Jess wrote: "It shows how rarely you see people reading in films."
Nadine wrote: "you don't usually see someone reading in a movie."

See, now that you've thought about this thing, you will see it all the time. In fact, here is a tumblr

http://booksinmovies.tumblr.com/

[Sarah]

This prompt is making me crazy. Even when I go to the library nobody is reading. They are studying or using computers or doing jigsaw puzzles.

It’s getting to the point where I’m just going to hand a stranger a book I want to read and ask them to read the first sentence. Who came up with this prompt anyway?

I am always reading and when I’m in public as others have said it might be an audiobook or is usually an ebook. Nothing anyone could use for this challenge without asking me what I was reading.

[Elizabeth A.G.]

I've found that inquiring what someone was reading on their ebook or even a print book has been a good way to start a conversation and meet someone new (provided you feel safe doing this). Asking the librarian what books he/she has read or reading is another option. Most readers I've met are happy to share what book they are reading.

[Nadine in NY]

poshpenny wrote: "Jess wrote: "It shows how rarely you see people reading in films."
Nadine wrote: "you don't usually see someone reading in a movie."

See, now that you've thought about this thing, you will see it ..."

Well, okay, if you look at ALL the movies ever made in all countries of the world, yes you will find quite a few with books, but that's because there are so many movies made. That doesn't mean it's a common sight! I've seen very few of the movies mentioned in that tumblr.

[Nadine in NY]

Sarah wrote: "... It’s getting to the point where I’m just going to hand a stranger a book I want to read and ask them to read the first sentence...."

Hahahahah!!! I share your pain, I still have not seen anyone in public reading anything (except one guy in a movie theater reading what looked like a law school text book - no I am not so desperate that I'm going to read that)

[Sarah]

@Elizabeth I wouldn’t mind asking them- it’s just that if they are on a phone it isn’t inherently obvious they are reading. I often meet people at the book store just browsing and trading rec’s but that’s not quite the same as reading. I guess I could go with a few of those rec’s if we are counting those. They are all on my TBR anyway.

[Jess]

My recent sightings:

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
The Pillars of Hercules
Liar's Poker

[Rachael]

I saw two strangers reading in public today but couldn't manage to see the title of one of the books. Very frustrating!

The one I did spot was The Devil's Star