Airplane reading

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I am at the airport waiting to board a flight home from the DC Forum weekend. Last night I was wide awake and finished reading my book I palmed to read in flight. I stopped by the newsstand to pick up a magazine and nothing interested me this time so I will read the airline magazine.

 

What is your in flight reading?

 

(PS for Gemini - Sports Illustrated was not on the shelf.)

[+ poolboy48220]

I'm pretty good about remembering to bring something, but if I forget it (once I left a book in the airport shuttle van), or finish it on my trip, I'm at the mercy of the airport bookstore, and that usually means Grisham. The time I'd left the book in the shuttle van, I picked up "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in the airport bookstore, even though I hadn't read "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" yet, and it totally ruined the twist ending.

 

But there's no specific genre, just whatever I'm reading or what has been on my 'to-read' list at the time. My last few trips have been "Game of Thrones" (OK, "A Song of Ice and Fire" for the purists), little chance of finishing those on the trip. :-)

[actor61]

I'm pretty good about remembering to bring something, but if I forget it (once I left a book in the airport shuttle van), or finish it on my trip, I'm at the mercy of the airport bookstore, and that usually means Grisham. The time I'd left the book in the shuttle van, I picked up "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in the airport bookstore, even though I hadn't read "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" yet, and it totally ruined the twist ending.

 

But there's no specific genre, just whatever I'm reading or what has been on my 'to-read' list at the time. My last few trips have been "Game of Thrones" (OK, "A Song of Ice and Fire" for the purists), little chance of finishing those on the trip.

I'm flying to Europe in early February and because my career is in the theatre, I have set aside "Razzle Dazzle", and "Fosse" for the trip. I clip articles from newspapers and magazines that I want to read but don't have time and keep them in a notebook, so that'll be in my bag as well. I hate watching movies on a plane (too many distractions) but enjoy reading immensely.

[TruthBTold]

Anything on the Man Booker Prize for fiction for that year.

[+ Charlie]

I save the NYT Book Review section on Sundays, and whenever I fly, I take a bunch of them with me, because I can read them and throw them away as I finish each one.

[mike carey]

I subscribe to the Economist and I usually have a couple of back issues that I have yet to read so I take them. This trip they had free newspapers at the start of the aerobridge (broadsheet so that makes things difficult on an aeroplane) so I picked up a copy. I also take a book (random subject, this time The Death of Money) that I haven't started so far on this trip. I didn't even watch any movies on the long-haul sector of my trip!

[liubit]

I now take my Kindle, where I pack a lot of books, from serious stuff like History or biographies, to crime-detective-cop stories, and even gay erotic novels. I then read what strikes my fancy of the moment...Convenient little device. My latest airplane reads have been James Patterson cop books, which I find very entertaining.

[+ glennnn]

Historical fiction or nonfiction set in the place I am visiting, especially if it is my first time there. But I love to read a book set in NYC or Paris while there even though I have been many times. It makes the reading more vivid.

[MikeBiDude]

Kindle for years now...

[+ SundayZip]

I too have a variety of ebooks downloaded to my tablet... Everything from erotic fiction to investment advice to best sellers. It also helps to have a Soduku app loaded to my tablet.

[+ honcho]

I mentioned having read a Terry Pratchet novel on a coast-to-coast daytime flight.

 

For the usual once per year business trip between SFO and LAX I pickup the current copy of the

Scientific American.

[+ FreshFluff]

iPad for me too. I sometimes see an interesting book at the airport bookstore and download it while I'm on the runway. Most of the books are non-fiction, often about some part of history I'm interested in.

 

Oh, and Cosmo.

[gallahadesquire]

Kindle for years now...

 

I lost my kindle in a Brookline Holiday Inn. At least, I think I did. I should give them a call. Between all of Colleen McCullough's Roman Emporer series and Robert Grave's I, Claudius and Claudius the God, my need for Roman history is satified. I should throw in some Livy, Pliny, and Cicero [yes, I read them in English].

 

I mentioned having read a Terry Pratchet novel on a coast-to-coast daytime flight.

 

For the usual once per year business trip between SFO and LAX I pickup the current copy of the

Scientific American.

 

I cut my teeth on Scientific American, when I was a kid. I could only get through about 2/3 of any given article before it suffered from a severe lack of editing. These days, it's a comic book of its former self. They had a special medical text, Scientific American: Medicine that was one or two volumes, loose leaf, and new chapters would replace old ones monthly, along with some CME tests. Pretty well done. In their day, Scientific American had a fantastic editorial staff.

 

I do remember taking a copy of The Landmark Thucydides and someone commenting how impressed he was that someone was actually reading Thucydides. Never finished it, but it's a great edition.

 

My local used bookstore is always out of Terry Pratchett.

[Marlfox]

I remember once coming back to Australia across the Pacific. The flight takes about 14 hours, so I bought something light - The Royals by Kitty Kelly. Had to hide the cover from my neighbour. She was reading The Trial, by Kafka.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

iPad if I'm in business or First. IPhone if I am on a short haul, in Economy or Coach, due to the space. kindle app syncs between the two devices.

[TruHart1]

I have a tablet that is actually a full PC, which I always travel with for my computer away from home. On the plane, I use my Kindle app on it and read whatever I feel like reading, usually fiction, erotic gay fiction or Patterson/Koontz/King and sometimes historical non-fiction, if I'm in the mood for well-written/-researched biography. Right now I've just begun the newest (3rd in the series) J.K. Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith) Cormoran Strike novel. I love this series and no, it's nothing at all like the Harry Potter books. With the Kindle app, I never run out of reading material!:)

 

TruHart1

[+ WilliamM]

I remember once coming back to Australia across the Pacific. The flight takes about 14 hours, so I bought something light - The Royals by Kitty Kelly. Had to hide the cover from my neighbour. She was reading The Trial, by Kafka.

 

I have flown back and forth from Australia or Asia five times. Strange. I do not remember reading anything, just try to relax and watch the map on the plane to see where we are at the moment. The goal is just to rest during such a long plane trip. (I also have to fly to/from the west coast from Philadelphia, so with connections it's about 21 hours.)

[mike carey]

The last time I consciously filled in a long flight with reading or movie watching was on a daylight flight from Sydney to Honolulu, where staying awake so I could sleep when I arrived at 9 or 10pm was important (I haven't done it for a while but that flight is now overnight, at least with QF, and daylight on the return flight). On my most recent trip (SYD-DFW and LAX-MEL) as soon as I'd had the meal it was blanket and eye-mask and try to sleep until breakfast. Whether for that reason or blind luck, my sleep rhythms kicked in as 'normal' straight away both ways, so I plan to repeat next time. On 3-4 hour flights I tend to take a magazine and some random book.

[AdamSmith]

If the flight is short I nap. If long, I bring work stuff that I need to force myself to either read or, if I'm writing it, finish or edit. The disconnection combined with a certain level of noise/busyness of the plane envt seems to work well for that.