While sizing up new flats and trying to work out good writing spots recently, I’ve also been thinking lots about the best places to do one of my favourite things – reading. I might be a bed fan through and through – stacks of pillows and a duvet are my friends when it comes to reading, especially if the story is either scary or sad – but you can’t stay in bed ALL the time. At least, that’s what people tell me.
So if I need to have some alternative reading spots, I want them to be good ones. A window seat would score a close second and a sofa by a fire is a definite third. However, as much time as I’m happy to spend day dreaming about my ideal reading space, the truth is I’d do it anywhere.
A quick tally of the amount of people I see reading in buses and cafes, on benches and walls or even as they walk down a crowded street tells me I’m not alone.
The idea of booklovers getting their fiction fix wherever they can find it has reminded me of a poem I loved and memorised as a wee ‘un (a rare occurrence). Reproduced below as it seems to be freely available online, but shout me if I shouldn’t have please!
Cats Sleep Anywhere
Cats sleep anywhere
Any table
Any chair
Top of piano
Window ledge
In the middle
On the edge
Open drawer
Empty shoe
Anybody’s lap will do
Fitted in a cardboard box
In the cupboard
With your frocks
Anywhere!
They don’t care
Cats sleep anywhere.
Eleanor Farjeon (1881 – 1965)
Whisper having a good old nap
Have you got a favourite place to read, or are you a cat-like book-ninja, happy to get down to business at a moment’s notice? Or maybe you’re like Whisper, and you like doing things as they’re meant to be done.
Lynsey May 
I was just thinking about this issue!
As a heathen audiobook lover, I like the freedom to ‘read’ anywhere – usually wandering aimlessly around the more pleasant parts of cities (I exhausted all possible walking routes in range of my Edinburgh flats!), or as a way to pass the time on long journeys – especially at night, when you can’t read normal books.
But physical books might have some advantages – I could be missing out on The One spotting me reading Paradise Lost in the corner and saying “hey cool, you like 17th century civil war religious allegories and progressive gender commentary too! Let’s go out” 😐
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hmm, that’s true – maybe you could get a badge that says ‘yo, I like reading the good shit’. Yes?
I think that’s a sad thing about ebook and ebook readers – it won’t be so easy to spy on what everyone on the bus is reading! (not that that’s how I pick people up or anything… ;))
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