Books spotted in the hands of a stranger

Planes and airports are some of the best places to spot strangers with books. Just recently I spotted someone on a plane reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I recently sat near a very dapper elderly gentleman who was sporting a cravat and reading West with the Night by Beryl Markham in the DFW airport.

The young woman next to me on the trolley this morning was reading Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson.

The Monday after its release, I counted 8 adults reading HP7 on my trolley car alone.

I find the bus to be a good place to spot people with books. There's often quite an interesting mix! Yesterday, I saw a young woman reading Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Basic Writings. (Okay, I confess, I live in a university community!)

Also on the trolley - a young woman who normally reads sci-fi (Orson Scott Card) reading some sort of Norman Mailer omnibus this morning.

I've spotted one of my co-workers that cooks for us in our cafeteria reading The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

Yesterday on the train I saw a guy reading Wicca by Scott Cunningham. I just thought it was so random.

I spotted The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood being read by a co-commuter on the bus. I have this on my TBR pile myself, but think I might leave it for 'home' reading as it's a bit of a whopper!

The lady in front of me in the frozen yogurt line at the airport had Fit for Life for Women.

On a traveler's bag in the loading zone of Charlotte Douglas Airport White Chocolate Moments by Lori Wick.

Just found this! What a fun group. Yesterday I had to take my dad for tests at the hospital and a woman sat in the waiting room with me reading The Girl With the Pearl Earring. I commented that I liked the book and we struck up a conversation. She recommended Family Matters to me, which I had just read a couple of weeks ago, and we had an interesting conversation about that book too.

Patricia Cornwell seems to be big with the traveling set. I just saw a smoking traveler outside perched on a rail in the smoking zone of the airport with one of Cornwell's books in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I couldn't make out the title though.

Update, another one today, a traveller tugging his carry-on down the concourse with Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth sticking out of the side pocket.

What hath Oprah done! I was getting my hair cut this morning and the person in the next chair had The Pillars of the Earth. I suppose I must read it some day.

I spotted several Debbie Macomber books in the hands of strangers in the Minneapolist/St. Paul airport last weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't make out the titles because they wouldn't move their hands.

Spotted in the hands of a lady on a stationary bicycle in the gym at Couples Swept Away in Negril, Jamaica, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. Sort of an unsettling title. Abandoned in the juice bar of the same gym The brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

A girl sat next to me on the bus this morning was reading Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I attempted to read this myself this year, but gave up after about 80 pages- I just found it too sad !

Another lady on the bus today was reading Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte- which is one of the March choices for my book group; I haven't gotten around to obtaining a copy for myself yet !

A lady was reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards today. I have this TBR !

A guy on the bus was reading a Cormac McCarthy book, but I didn't see the title ...

Guy on the bus today reading Nineteen Eighty Four, by George Orwell.

Guy on the bus today reading Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, which in some ways ties in nicely with my current read - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Ah, a lady on the bus today WAS reading The Book Thief; also a lady in the canteen at dinnertime was reading Morning, Noon and Night, by Sidney Sheldon. The Kirkus Review on Amazon is pretty savage : "thin, flawed, and empty "

Spotted these in the hands of strangers on the Metro while vacationing in DC: Imperium, Running on Race: Racial Politics in Presidential Campaigns and Shadow of the Wind.

My fellow travelers on a recent flight to the Kentucky Derby were all reading up a storm and a pretty diverse bunch they were. I couldn't catch all of the titles, but here are a few A Reliable Wife, Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause, Greg Iles' Trapped, Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives, the Koran and Frommer's Italy 2010.

...and today on a shuttle bus at the Charlotte Douglas Airport spotted the driver reading 1491, not while driving of course.

In the hands of a woman on the London tube Kathy Reichs' 206 Bones

On the ferry between Vancouver and Victoria, Canada, I saw several people reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson), and also one woman reading Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden.

A lady on the bus this morning reading The Grave Tattoo, byVal McDermid.

Spotted on the train from Venice to Florence in the hands of a stranger Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Just back from a cruise to Alaska. On the US Air flight from Charlotte to Seattle I saw in the hands of a small, older woman The First Fall Classic. Baseball fans come in all shapes and sizes. In the hands of a lady snoozing on the couch in the library of the m/s Westerdam a copy of Magic Hour by Kristen Hannah.

Here's a interesting article about the books seen in the hands of riders on the NY subway. http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2015/06/story-time-with-subway-strangers/396974...

The Spanish version of The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell called El Chino being read by the guy waiting in line in front of me in the freezing cold trying to get in to see The Daily Show.

Yesterday at the polling center, I spotted In Cold Blood in the hands of a volunteer.

Sitting in church this morning one of my pewmates was carrying a copy of Peter Benchley’s White Shark stacked with his hymn book.

>34 varielle: Must be riveting reading. Did you catch him inserting it inside the open hymnal? That was a favorite trick of mine in grade school.

While waiting to get my tires rotated a lady is reading The Siege by Stephen White.

Across from my table in a Thai restaurant is a lady sitting alone with a textbook on Abnormal Psychology.

I went to the car wash today and in between customers the car wash girl was reading The Count of Monte Cristo.

On the train from Salzburg to Vienna, a man was reading Savage Son.