Constant Reader discussion

Here is an interesting article that I saw on LitHub about where people read:

http://lithub.com/the-places-we-read/

I have several places in my house I like to read: my bed, a chair that reclines in my family room, a chair that reclines in my bedroom, and sometimes a chaise lounge in my basement (if I want to get away from people upstairs.) Where do you read?

When I was a child I read on the grass at recess when other kids were playing, or on the screened-in porch during summer. Earlier in my adulthood I remember spending a huge amount of time reading on streetcars and buses, also in bed. I probably read in bed less now than I ever have before, though I still do some reading there. Mostly I read in a reclining chair in the living room. No one hangs out there but me.

In a recliner, in the sitting/ library/office room.

Just in the last couple of months I bought myself a Poang chair and managed to cram it into a corner of our bedroom. I love it (so do the cats, geesh). I finally have a place I can sit--crosslegged, even!--and get some peace and quiet away from the stupid TV.

I also like reading at the kitchen table, but I can only do that when no one else is home.

When I was a kid I did most of my reading in a corner of the couch with my feet tucked under me--I can't get in that position any more. Or I would lay on my bed on my stomach and read--now this position makes me very very sleepy, or my back starts to hurt.

I also read quite a bit in the car, waiting for kids. Also at high school track meets (during track season). Also during the 30-45 minute warmup before soccer games start.

On the couch, at the breakfast table, at the lunch table, waiting in the car, doctor's waiting rooms, dentist's waiting rooms, in the bathroom, in my Poang chair by the window, in bed, while I'm cooking, in my office, on the patio, in line at the post office...

The easy answer is "wherever I am" of course. But really I probably read the most at the kitchen table. This is because I always read with lunch, and I most often eat lunch at home. The car might take second place-I spend too much time waiting for people. And I always read before I go to sleep, so in bed. But often that can be a couple of pages.

Last night, when I was finishing All the Light We Cannot See it was about 2 hours, I think! It picked up in those last 20 or 30 chapters.

On the couch, either cross-legged in warm socks or supine. In both cases, often underneath one or more cats.

In the bed just before sleep, also usually cat-assisted.

In the bathtub. I cannot express how fantastic it is to read in the bathtub on a Sunday with no chores and no deadline, especially in the winter. Interestingly, one of the cats even comes to help with this process, sitting on the edge of the bath and trailing her tail in the water. She's only ever fallen in twice. Sometimes she gets up and wags her now sodden tail around a bit, splattering my face, the book, and later the rest of the apartment, which is not ideal, but is funny.

On public transport. I can do it standing, though I prefer to sit if possible. This technique does not work for all books, however: my attempt to read Infinite Jest on the tram was not a success. Smaller books, no endnotes.

At my desk during lunch. Best break-time activity ever.

In any situation that involves a wait: airport, train station, train itself, in line for immigration at the préfecture.... A book makes a long wait a pleasure instead of an ordeal.

Nicole wrote: "Interestingly, one of the cats even comes to help with this process, sitting on the edge of the bath and trailing her tail in the water. She's only ever fallen in twice."

That's the best cat story ever.

What happens when she falls in?

Back on topic: nowadays, I read on the couch (mostly), in bed, and in the Eames lounger. The library where I lived as child used to have beanbag chairs, which were awesome. I read a lot in class in high school; my teachers were cool with that. The school bus was good as well.

M0rningstar wrote: "What happens when she falls in?"

Let's just say it's not good for anyone involved.

I've never heard of a Poang chair. I have to look that up. Reading in the tub sounds good, but I have never been able to get more than a couple of lines read. I really am a fast bath-taker. I get bored just lying there, and when I try to balance a book, things just don't work out.

Some years ago, we bought Stressless recliner chairs and really good reading lights. They are in the living room with the stereo and that is my very favorite place to read. TVs are banned from this room. Now that I'm retired, my greatest luxury is to be able to get everything done by 2:00 and then give myself a couple of hours to read. In addition to books, I'm addicted to newspapers and a few magazines so they get piled up there too. I still read in bed at night but much prefer that chair.

Nicole, I love that story about your cat. I've almost always had a cat or cats in my life and all of them have been horrified by the experience of getting wet. My current one is addicted to drinking from the bathtub faucet, however. Each morning she stalks me until I turn it on for her.

We invested in a double LazyBoy recliner....that's where most of our reading takes place. A close second is a newly renovated Sun Room, with comfortable couch and oversized chair. But really, anyplace I can put my feet up. :). With attending cat, of course.....

I used to read during my bus commute, and on my lunch break. One office allowed me to read at my desk, as long as my work was caught up.

I'm like Ruth ... I read any..and every where. In any position, standing, sitting, lying down. At a table, desk, counter. In the car, in bed, in the kitchen, in the living room, in my office. My favorite reading spot at home is my big leather recliner, next to the fireplace in the library. My favorite reading spot outside of home is "my" chair at the public library.

Sherry wrote: "I've never heard of a Poang chair. I have to look that up. Reading in the tub sounds good, but I have never been able to get more than a couple b..."

You saw two of those chairs at my house, framing the big front window. I'm sure you sat there, looking out at the ocean.

I used to love to read in the bathtub, but now in my old age its too hard to get in and out of a tub.

I love my Poang chair! When I am having back spasms, it is the only place I can sit comfortably. Great lower back support all the time.

I can and do read in most places. Even if it’s in a noisy place, for example on a market. However, I very rarely read in bed.

When I was growing up I shared a room with my sister and i created my reading nook in our tiny closet with pillows lots of memories of books that inspired me

I bring a book or my Kindle everywhere! It is the perfect defense against most socially annoying things one encounters. I even regretted not having it on the river the other day when fellow kayakers puttered and played forever on little non-waves before going down the river.

Mostly though, drinking coffee and smoothie sitting up in bed in the morning, I finish my newspaper, and then when normal people would get up and start their day, I nuke my coffee and start in on a book. So decadent! But so comfortable and nice!

I read when sitting on my easy chair with my legs stretched out on the ottoman, at the kitchen table for lunch, in my bed, and in the car when my husband is driving us somewhere. I like the kindle because it is so portable.

I didn't know what the Poang chair was either, but when I saw the picture I realized I had sat in one before - very comfortable.

Barb, what kind of reading lights did you get? We went shopping a couple of times but didn't really see anything with a lot of light.

Ann, they are made by Holtkoetter and have a light at the top and an adjustable one midway for reading. They are ridiculously expensive but truly great lamps. Tom bought me one for my birthday years ago. He liked it so much that I bought him one for his next birthday. I appreciate them even more as I get older.

Thanks, Barb. I am definitely going to look into these.

Crafting lights work really well,too. Mine is floor length and even has places for my tools and yarn should the urge arise. It is poised over my overstuffed chair in the family room. But the best it the high-backed arm chair whose upholstery I ruined by teething on it. Parents had to get that redone. Now it sits in what we call our library, usually with a cat on the wide back.

Massachusetts.

You know, when I ride my bike to work and I go through the park, there is often a guy who is walking along and also reading at the same time. It's quite the feat. Unfortunately, the last time I saw him, he was not reading and his arm was in a cast. Perhaps walking and reading is a dangerous proposition.

A hat with a book holder would solve his problem.

Nicole wrote: "You know, when I ride my bike to work and I go through the park, there is often a guy who is walking along and also reading at the same time. It's quite the feat. Unfortunately, the last time I saw..."

At first I thought you were going to say you read while you rode your bike! When I was a girl there was a minister who used to drive with a book propped up on his dashboard. He ended up in a horrible accident. No one ever said so, but I always assumed it was because of a book.

Lyn wrote: "I bring a book or my Kindle everywhere! It is the perfect defense against most socially annoying things one encounters. I even regretted not having it on the river the other day when fellow kayak..."

So nice. I force myself up to do my cleaning, etc. first, then settle to read in my spare time. If I'm nice to myself and read first, it's about all I do that day.

Barbara wrote: "Ann, they are made by Holtkoetter and have a light at the top and an adjustable one midway for reading. They are ridiculously expensive but truly great lamps. Tom bought me one for my birthday ye..."

I looked these up on Amazon. I may need one in my future - some models even say "Lighting for The Aging Eye." Thanks Barbara.

I never leave home without a book, my Kindle or both. My most favorite place to read is in bed, my study which is on the top floor of my townhouse (far away from the TV) and outside weather permitting.

I do most of my reading at the kitchen table, but also read in a glider in the living room, and in bed.

You're welcome, Gina. They are definitely an extravagance but one that is in my area of priorities so it's been worth it.

I can relate to all these posts, after seventy years of reading. These days I like reading several books at one time, and the various platforms available today go with my favorite places to read. I keep hardcovers at the table (good light), ebooks in bed, paperbacks to take outside, audibles in the dark. When I was young I couldn't keep my eyes off print...bus ads, packaging, magazines. Nothing's changed; in the doctors' waiting rooms now, I will read the promos from the pharmaceutical companies and in the examining rooms, the labels on drawers.

Linda wrote: "I can relate to all these posts, after seventy years of reading. These days I like reading several books at one time, and the various platforms available today go with my favorite places to read. I..."

My granddaughter (13) is just like you, Linda. She can't stop reading. She's with us in France right now, and she said "I can't ready ANYTHING, and I'm used to reading EVERYTHING." She's doing a good job with menus. Trying to parse out what the food is.

I always read in my bedroom. Also at my back yard, waiting rooms, bus commute or sometimes at the library.

Sherry, Like your granddaughter's comment! A great motivator for learning a new language...wanting to make sense of unfamiliar symbols.

Sherry wrote: "She's with us in France right now, and she said "I can't ready ANYTHING, and I'm used to reading EVERYTHING."

This actually reminds me of my experience right after I moved here, when my language skills were a little....mediocre. One of the things that I noticed was how I had no background, because everything that was written was foreground because I didn't know what it was.

Take an example: you're on the bus to work, and the bus stops at a red light, and you look out the window at the businesses on that block, and there's a dry cleaner, a place that makes keys, a driving school, and a fast food pizza chain. If I had seen these things (expect the driving school, because this we don't have in the US the way it is here), I wouldn't really have thought about any of them, but here, I didn't know any of the words for any of the things (again except the driving school, except that there was a deeper lack of understanding because I had no idea why they were everywhere, or why they proposed stages de récupération de points) and the only legible thing was the fast food pizza. Then you go come and look up the words for locksmith and dry cleaner and what have you.

Anyway, the language feels like it's always in your face because all these everyday things have suddenly become mysterious and illegible, and it's sort of overwhelming.

Okay that turned into a really long post.

Nicole wrote: "Sherry wrote: "She's with us in France right now, and she said "I can't ready ANYTHING, and I'm used to reading EVERYTHING."

This actually reminds me of my experience right after I moved here, whe..."

Our friend Etienne is with us for this week, Nicole, and he said something about all those driving schools. I'm not quite clear on their purpose, but they are definitely in it to make money, not so much to educate people about driving.

It's a weird system, actually, and one of the few things that is privatized in France where it would be public in the US (usually I see the opposite).

The permis de conduire itself is free, but the driver education that you need to pass the test is not part of a regular public education, and most people have to do a driving school, which is I think pretty expensive. It's effectively outsourced to private companies, which I find both odd and inconsistent with pretty much every other facet of french education ever, which is not just public, but proudly and vehemently public.

The other thing, which is very troubling, is that your permis has a system of points, and if you do bad stuff in the car, you lose points (speeding, running red lights, what have you), and if you lose ALL your points you can't drive. You can, however, get points back by doing some remedial driver's ed, also at a driving school, which is, in my opinion, a total racket, amounting more or less to just paying to get your license back. For a lot of people it's in essence paying an extra fee to speed, which is dangerous and also sort of disgusting.

All in all, I prefer my bike or the tram.

PS-I hope you're having fun in France! Sorry about the ridiculously hot weather; it seems to be back to normal now.

Nicole wrote: "It's a weird system, actually, and one of the few things that is privatized in France where it would be public in the US (usually I see the opposite).

The permis de conduire itself is free, but t..."

Our friend, Etienne, said the same thing, but added that the people who own the schools are also in charge of grading the tests, so that they have a vested interest in failing people. He said one friend he knows who has a US driver's license and has lived in France for over 30 years refuses to take the test and just drives. So far, he's been okay.

On the weather, last night we were attending Carmen at the Theatre Antiques in Orange, and the wind really started kicking up. The orchestra had to really watch out that their music didn't fly away. Is it early for the mistral? Or is this just a cool front coming in?

I'm not sure for the south, but I know that we are having some weird weather due to southern wind. Two days ago, it was already 40 degrees, and a strong dry hot wind from the south started blowing in the early evening, and the temperature actually went UP between 5 pm and 8pm. Usually in Grenoble we have almost no wind at all.

I think the mistral is usually quite cold (at least compared to what you would expect) so if it's a hot wind it's something else.

Michigan has private driving schools now in addition to public school availability. I think it started about 15 years ago. My youngest son took from a private instructor because he couldn't fit in the public one due to athletics. The instruction at this particular school wasn't nearly as good.

That is so interesting about learning a language when you are living in a new country. That is a huge part of the experience when we travel outside of the U.S. and Canada. I always doubly realize how essential reading and conversation are to my life at those times. When people I know lack tolerance for people in the U.S. who don't speak English, I usually tell them how hard it has been for me to use another language. Frequently, they haven't thought of the reverse situation.

Burgendya wrote: "I always read in my bedroom. Also at my back yard, waiting rooms, bus commute or sometimes at the library."

I like to read sitting on my sofa, or at night sitting up in bed before sleep. When it's not too hot, I like to read sitting on the roof at the pool or on a bench at a park. But Dallas will get to the 100s this weekend, so not much chance of reading outside till it gets cooler.

Look at where a whole town reads! I think this is truly wonderful!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I like to read in my bed. It's about the only quiet place in my house. I also read outside at work when weather permits. I also read outside at home. I was reading a book on my kindle one night and it felt so good outside that I didn't go inside until 9:30 pm.