That "stuck in an airport" book

[Warren]

I really appreciate the podcast & board.
Particular when I need new material.
With the holidays approaching I've starting to look for that "stuck in an airport"book. The one you don't start reading…. yet
so you'll have at least one good spare when you need it.
I'll be interested to see what others plan for their holiday spare.

[terpkristin]

This topic, for me, folds nicely into the Usable to-read lists thread. My "to read" shelf here on GR is a list of books that I've come across (either as recommendations, from reading reviews here, or reviews elsewhere) that I want to read. When I find a particularly good deal, I buy a book if it's on my "to read" shelf or if it sounds interesting or if there is buzz about it. At that point, it stays on my Kindle or iTunes until I get to it. Once it comes time to find something new to read, I first go through what already is in my library. If nothing there is striking my particular fancy, I end up buying something that DOES off my "to-read" list.

I also travel quite a bit, so I like to have a lot of options. Between now and Christmas, I'll be doing a round-trip to London, a round-trip to Pennsylvania, and then the Christmas traveling back and forth between my parents' house and my house (1.25 hours each way). Currently, my iPhone has 1Q84, which I'm sometimes listening to, sometimes reading on Kindle. It also has Brisingr, which is probably next in my audio queue. And it has The Machine Stops in audio, which is a short story I read ages ago and wanted to re-read (listen to). I've got a slew of books listed below. I think when I travel, I'm going to take my Kindle Fire, my iPhone, and my iPod Classic. My iPod Classic has all of the audiobooks mentioned below loaded up. And it will likely have one or two more before I head to London...

On my Kindle, already downloaded and ready to read are:
1Q84 (currently reading)
Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America (currently reading)
Breakfast of Champions
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Last Ringbearer
Rage of a Demon King
His Majesty's Dragon
Culinary School: Three Semesters of Life, Learning, and Loss of Blood
The Pale King
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Score
Inflatable Men
Slim to None
The Heroes
Best Served Cold
The Second Coming
MetaGame

Also, in my iTunes, downloaded from Audible:
And Another Thing...
Atlas Shrugged
Brave New World
Catch-22
Dragonflight (I've been meaning to re-read it, even before she passed away)
Storm Front (re-read)
Fool Moon
God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
One Dog Night
His Majesty's Dragon (yes I have this on Kindle too...it was cheap)
The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen
The Eye in the Pyramid
The Sacrifice: The First Book of the Fey
The Lightning Thief
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Wizard's First Rule

[Kate]

House of Leaves is my official airport book. I started it last Christmas and have been dragging it on planes with me ever since. I really like it, but it's awkwardly sized so I can't hold it open properly with my tiny hands and it's too complex for me to blow through in a weekend, which is how I usually handle giant books.

Airplane tray tables are exactly the right height to manage it, I'll either finish it when I fly home from Vegas this weekend, or when I go to Boston in December.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

@terpkristin - I want to roll around in your books. Except for that they are DIGITAL and that would hurt.

@Kate - the second half goes a lot faster than the first half!

[Kate]

Jenny wrote: "
@Kate - the second half goes a lot faster than the first half!"

Right, when all those blank pages start cropping up!

[terpkristin]

Jenny wrote: "@terpkristin - I want to roll around in your books. Except for that they are DIGITAL and that would hurt."

Hmm. What does digital feel like, I wonder...

:)

Funny, the books I listed are only the unread/un-listened-to ones. With Kindle, I only keep unread books on it (on the principle that I can go back and re-download read ones if I want). With iTunes, I make a playlist for each book (even if it's only one file). I label them with a prefix "U-" if I haven't listened to it yet. Makes it easy to find.

When I travel these days (especially plane travel), I typically only take my Kindle, my iPhone, an iPod (Classic or Nano...I like to listen to "comfort books" on either of these while trying to fall asleep in unfamiliar places), and a magazine or two (for times when I can't use electronics or it's too loud/distracting for me to get invested in a book). And my work computer, if I'm traveling for work.

But I love the digital age, especially for travel. It pretty much means I won't ever run out of books while traveling. Now if only I could escape for another long cruise...

[Kate]

terpkristin wrote: "But I love the digital age, especially for travel."


Traveling is the only time I can see the value of switching to digital. I'm looking around my hotel rooms and I see about 10 books for a 7 day trip.

[Matthew]

Isn't this in part the beauty of an ereader? Never having to worry about this problem again and the ability to buy any book on demand as the situation calls for it?

[Hunter]

Yeah, but you can't buy 'em on the plane. And if you have a Wi-Fi e-reader vs. a 3G, you will want to buy them at home, on a secure, fast network before a slower, public airport network. So having the 20 books on your Kindle first, then maybe getting 1 or 2 impulse purchases before the trip home is a bit better planned then "I'll figure it out at the airport." Plus if you don't know what you want, this is a great place to find books.