This'll have to do. As many have already read, Alexis Mainland has a nice piece in the NY Times about subway reading:
Reading on the subway is a New York ritual, for the masters of the intricately folded newspaper like Ms. Kornhaber, who lives in Park Slope and works on the Upper East Side, as well as for teenage girls thumbing through magazines, aspiring actors memorizing lines, office workers devouring self-help inspiration, immigrants newly minted — or not — taking comfort in paragraphs in a familiar tongue. These days, among the tattered covers may be the occasional Kindle, but since most trains are still devoid of Internet access and cellphone reception, the subway ride remains a rare low-tech interlude in a city of inveterate multitasking workaholics. And so, we read.
Of course this applies to other cities, at least those with public transportation in actual use. I myself can be found on the buses and trains of the MBTA reading a fat paperback I purchased at Isiah Thomas Books, a great used bookstore on the Cape. Sadly, the spine is busted so it keeps flipping over to page 134 or something, a page I have fortunately just read past, so I'm hoping it's less cumbersome now. I'd hate to return to Jim Thompson just to make train/bus reading simpler. I should also note that my partner insists on bringing a book on any bus and/or train ride, even though we are together and even if we are going a very short distance. He has a great fear of getting stuck without a book - a fear I appreciate, except when I have to carry the bag with a fat academic hardcover in it.
So we're still reading! And reading books! Let's go forth, this Labor Day, and flip some pages, folks - and let curmudgeonly Christopher harumph all he wants.
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