"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Books We Read Outdoors

NYT-June 3, 2011
Today I stumbled upon an editorial cartoon from the NY Times about the books we read outdoors. Check it out. I always thought that people read mindless, frivolous books when they were outside (Beach Books) even though that isn't what I read when I'm outside.

Take a look at the picture link here
then hurry on back and let me know what you like to read when you are outside enjoying the weather.

Today I'm spending a little time sitting in the sun for the first time of the season and I'm reading the book The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson.  Why?  Because it is what I'm currently reading.  Ha!

8 comments:

  1. Love the comic! Isn't it great to see what everyone's reading and what they think? We wish it could be a regular feature.

    Hmm, we read outside sometimes... Mostly in our own yards, while watching the kids or walking the dog. It's usually YA stuff, like THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, or whatever latest title we're sinking our teeth into!

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  2. What an awesome cartoon! I love it b/c it's REAL. I read outside all the time b/c my building's courtyard is just a step outside my front door. What do I read outside? Whatever I'm currently reading of course! Today it's Tyger, Tyger.

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  3. That's a terrific comic! It reverses a lot of assumptions about reading outdoors. I love the variety of material being read and that people are reading both literary classics & contemporary must-reads.

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  4. Who'da thunk we'd finally get a good weekend? I spent all day yesterday reading in the sun. What did I take on? Finished the 610 page potboiler The Map of Time by Felix Palma (out on June 28, steampunk fo' sho') and transitioned into my first Sandman: the newly re-colored Preludes & Nocturnes. Pretty sure that in both cases I'm breaking the stereotype of summer reading!
    After waking up early to witness an exceedingly scruffy and possibly diseased opossum hanging out right where I'd been blissfully reading yesterday, I opted to stay inside, despite the sun. Had I ventured into scabies/rabies territory, I would have brought Will Grayson/Will Grayson, which I finally got after months on the library waiting list.
    Once again: No stereotypes, no boundaries.
    And may I say, Anne: I continue to value your opinions and your presence out here in cyberspace and especially in WA state. Rock on in the blue-green world!
    L

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  5. And may I say that the cartoon is frightening. It makes every one of those people look like a brainlessly shallow idiot. But I suspect that many of us, however thoughtful about our choice of books and however well-spoken we normally may be in defense of our choices, if stumbled-upon one glorious afternoon as we snoozed in Central Park, would wax equally inarticulate...
    But bottom line: ouch.

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  6. I'll read anything outdoors (or indoors.) Reading is great no matter where you are!

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  7. Two reading outside in NYC anecdotes: A few years back I was reading a pretty library hardcover edition of Lost Horizon in Central Park and a very earnest photography student came up and asked to take my picture. I always wondered if the choice of book had something to do with it.

    Last year I was reading Flirt (a fairly X-rated Paranormal Romance) in Bryant Park when a group of (again) earnest high schoolers came up and asked if they could interview me for their church group project. Of course they broke the ice with "what are you reading?" I said "Paranormal Romance," thinking that would be the end of it, but they didn't know what that was and asked me to explain. I asked, "How old are you?" "18." I paused for an endless moment, and finally said, "It's like Twilight, but for grownups."

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  8. If its really hot and sunny out, its hard for me to really focus on anything too cerebral. If I can sit in the shade and rock some men's bifocal sunglasses, then I can really get into something that uses my brain. Not that there is anything wrong with Bossypants. Tiny Fey is a comedy genius and should be revered as such.

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