Fear of Flying: or How To Choose Appropriate Airplane Reading
I'm not going to pretend that I buy actual books in the airport bookstore anymore; I'm generally so behind in my reading that I like to cart around several pounds of the guiltily unread. In fact, I still overspend at the newsstand on trashy magazines that will show me what the well dressed celebutante* is wearing (or...er...not wearing) this season. But I used to have a Higgins Clark (both Mary and Carol) addiction, stoked by the shiny covers glinting at the local airport bookstore. (Bonus reading: here's an interesting theory on why it's hard to bring yourself to crack open "War and Peace" on a plane.) How to choose, though? Stanley Fish has the answer, in a recent New York Times column he outlines a real strategy for choosing the right mystery book to keep you occupied on your next trip. How do you choose your airplane reading?
*A note about celebutantes: there is, following a cursory search, literally nothing** I can link to involving Paris Hilton that does not take the reader to material that would tar the reputation of this blog, and thereby NPR, forever.
**Including her Wikipedia entry.
11:10 AM ET | 03-29-2007 | permalink




