Rat’s Reading

This is the first of my non-review entries that I mentioned in the year in review entry a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know how frequently I’ll do these. The whole point of them is to be opinionated (or at least thought-provoking), to get comments and links.

Today is Labor Day in the United States, a national holiday in celebration of the working man. For most of us, it’s a day off to relax and barbecue. It’s the traditional end of the summer season. For me, a holiday is always an excuse to go read a book. This morning in the shower, I resolved that I would very much go read a book. As in, go somewhere to relax and read.

I confess that the bulk of my book reading is done in one of two places these days. Either I am lounging on my beat up couch, or propped up on a pillow in bed. Reading at home has a large number of advantages. Refreshment is usually nearby, unless I have let bachelorhood take over my refrigerator. It’s always acceptable to nod off, which gets more acceptable and less preventable as I get older. In addition, I can put on some background music to complement my reading mood.

But I find that my home isn’t my favorite place to read. I’ve gotten my read on in lots of other places.

When I was a working man, taking public transit enabled me to get quite a bit of reading accomplished. I had an hour-plus long commute between my condominium in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle and the Eastgate area of Bellevue where Expedia was located (and still is for a few more months). Oddly enough, working at Barnes & Noble afforded me less time to read that way, as it was only a 10 minute bus ride downtown. Quite a number of people shared my use of the time. Books usually outnumbered iPods in the hands of commuters.

Although I did occasionally read on breaks at the bookstore, I rarely absorbed more a few pages. Talking literature with my co-workers usually filled the time there. In my tech life, I almost never read at work. Though techies read like nobody’s business, our breaks were filled with socializing at restaurants. If an employee was at the office instead, goofing off consisted mostly of surfing the web. Most likely though, we put in 55 hours weeks of actual work and had little focus for anything else.

I quite enjoy reading outside. My apartment sits on a pier on Lake Union, so the common area at water’s edge is particularly convenient. Tuesdays during the summer the sailboats are out, providing a nice backdrop. The air is fresh, and the light is definitely better that anywhere indoors. Reading at local parks works out well too. In addition to the light, Seattleites flock to their parks for recreation. Being able to watch people as well as read a book? Priceless.

But I have to say that my favorite place to read is a coffee shop. A coffee shop (a good one at least), provides nearly everything. The best ones have comfortable chairs or couches. All but the worst will have a wide variety of caffeinated refreshments. Quite a few even have an assortment of replacement books at hand. Sometimes, I’m a fickle reader and just want to put my book down and pick up anything else. Coffee shops in the center of the coffee revival are popular places. The people watching is tremendous. And social. Chatting up fellow drinkers breaks the monotony of reading. Some might even say that socializing is an end unto itself. Best of all about a coffee shop, the clientèle is a fine way to validate my reading choices. When another patron asks about or comments on my material, the inquiry supports my view that I have good taste in literature. While my first goals of reading are for myself, enjoyment or increase in knowledge perhaps, not too far behind is the sense that others appreciate my taste.

I am, after all, a selfish creature.

Related posts

• No related posts.