One of the blogs I enjoy reading is called Bookish NYC and every week she writes a post called ‘seen on the subway’, where she comments on a few people she’s spotted, what they look like, what they’re wearing and what they’re reading. It’s interesting to see how often a person’s age or appearance really is not indicative of what they’re likely to read.
I did think about writing a similar post describing people I’ve spotted on the London underground, but that idea fell apart rather quickly when I realised that I spend too much time with my nose in a book to pay attention to the people around me! However, the other day I spotted a woman, mid-thirties, smart clothes, subtle make-up, she looked like she was on her way to work and she was sitting reading a book. But, and here’s the thing, I couldn’t tell what she was reading because she was holding a letter from an electricity company around the cover of the book!
The letter was out of the envelope, unfolded and held sideways to cover the front and back of the book, it was definitely positioned purposely to hide the book cover! How odd is that? I’ve read quite a bit of trash in my time, but I’ve never felt the need to hide it. Of course this started me wondering about what she was reading. Could it be porn, erotica, or a children’s book? Perhaps it was a terrorist manual on bomb making!
From what I could see it looked like a small hardback book with text, not pictures. What would be so embarrassing that you would want to hide it? And if you felt the need to hide what you were reading why would you bring it on the underground anyway?
The whole thing seems a bit strange to me. I think that if you’ve chosen to read a book, no matter what genre, you should be free to read it without embarrassment; it’s your choice, no one else has to read it and certainly no one else should care what you’re reading. So I really can’t get my head round why this woman would hide her book. It’s got me stumped – any thoughts?
Sounds very interesting. Chances are she must have been reading some romantic classic but still why hide it? Well I am still wondering what it could have been. I guess it is left to our imagination.
Hi,
I have on the odd occasion been embarrassed by a book I have been reading on the tube but only usually because the content was slightly stronger than I had expected and I didn’t want anyone reading it over my shoulder. I have never tried to hide a book cover from public view.
If the lady in question was that embarrassed about her choice of title then maybe she should have left it at home and read something that she felt more comfortable appearing in public with.
It sounds very bizarre!
S
I have found my cheeks getting red reading on the tube many times. It is generally when i am feeding my inner teen with young adult fiction and usually of the fantasy / sci-fi genre. I love it, but know i shouldnt – a guilty pleasure!
We all have guilty pleasures – nothing wrong with that! I don’t think anyone should be embarrassed by a romantic classic or a bit of teen fantasy. It’s all fun. I still can’t figure out what she was reading, maybe someday I’ll see her again and ask her! Though in fairness I was so busy looking at the covered book I might not remember what she looked like.
I’m with Sarah – I’m only embarrassed when the material is (ahem) ‘stronger’ than you’d expected. What an intriguing story!
I’m definitely finding that I’m reading less nowadays without my public transport commute, but I’ve got more time for podcasts. Maybe I should go for talking books, especially when I buy my car!
[…] wrote an earlier post asking if we’re aver embarrassed by what we read and I concluded that we shouldn’t ever be […]