Subway reading

From what I’ve seen, most people on the subway prefer to use their time staring into space. Quite a few listen to music, and some watch movies on miniature DVD players. Most of those who read seem to read newspapers, but there are still a few who read books on the subway, and those are the focus of the New York Times article Reading Underground.

I do a lot of my own reading on the subway, and a large part of it standing up, as there is usually no seat on the C train to Manhattan during rush hour. But with access to a vertical pole, it is easy enough to keep a good grip while balancing an open book in my left hand. I can tell when a book is really absorbing because I miss my stop.

Reading on the subway is not only good for the mind, but a useful way to avoid eye contact with panhandlers and erratic individuals. At the same time, it doesn’t mask potential danger signs as badly as the white earbuds do.

I’ve heard it said that the quality of books read on the F train from Park Slope is the highest of any subway line, but on the C line as well I see people reading local authors like Paul Auster and Colson Whitehead, or the occasional oddball choice like Humboldt’s Gift in an old copy from the paperback series that features the enormous face of the character on the cover.

Sometimes you have to think twice about what to read on the subway. At Jenn’s recommendation, I changed the dust jacket on The Satanic Verses before taking it underground. And Consider the Lobster, with its cover image of a lobster lifting a claw in greeting or an appeal for help (though actually neither, since the lobster is red and therefore already boiled) seemed to beckon a pleasantly deranged gentleman who approached me with his own claw waggling in the air. “Consider the lobster!” he declaimed.