Oh, and the racial implications are kind of gross, if you think of it. Open-minded guy like Trent Lott, how dare I? (I wish I could send Omar to take care of him.)

That's very cool, especially given that you're teaching her a love of reading.

Well, it does make me more aware of what else I might be modeling for her, for good or ill, without realizing it!

Tangenting off to taking a book on the bus...lately I've been subtly nosy about trying to see what my fellow bus riders bring along to while away their commute time. Last week I sat next to a woman reading War and Peace and was duly impressed. There's one guy who gets on at the stop after mine on the way home who diligently improves his marketable skills by always reading software how-tos and the like. The week where it seemed like half the bus was immersed in Harry Potter was fun.

What surprises me a bit that only 1/4 to 1/3 of bus riders on an average day are doing anything to occupy themselves, be it book, iPod, paper, conversation with friend, or whatever. Granted, it's a shortish commute (15-25 minutes from my park & ride to my stop, on an express that basically takes people from two park & rides and drops them off at a cluster of hospitals), but I can't imagine just sitting and staring out the window at exactly the same things I stared at yesterday, day in and day out. Too many books and too little time!

I can't read on a city bus or CTA train without getting nauseous. More comfy trains like Metra or Amtrak it's not a problem.

I get nauseated when I read in the car or on a bus. Sometimes even in a plane. Which sucks. A lot.

One cool thing I saw in Honolulu was a couple of kids riding the bus and they younger (a boy probably about 8-10 years old) picked up the newspaper and turned to the comics page. He read the paper the whole time they were on the bus and shared it with the older girl he was with. The Honolulu Advertiser has an impressive 2 page comic spread in their daily which I really liked.

The journalism student in me gets a happy when kids read newspapers.

Ah, that makes sense! I hadn't even thought of the nausea issue, which is silly of me, because it's why I learned to read maps at a very young age. My mom couldn't so much as read a map from the passenger seat without getting queasy, so if Dad was doing the driving, I was the designated navigator, going back as long as I can remember.

ETA I do get a little queasy if I try to read while being driven rapidly down a road with trees casting shadows over the page, but that's not an issue on the bus.

The SO is like you, Susan. He's always got a book or his laptop or something going on trips.

I, on the other hand, love traveling and to me part of the fun is sitting and staring out the window. Views are different every day, even if they're a part of the commute. And I like to use the time to dream or think or process. Or just veg or just "be," you know?

What surprises me a bit that only 1/4 to 1/3 of bus riders on an average day are doing anything to occupy themselves, be it book, iPod, paper, conversation with friend, or whatever.

I'm usually planning something or rehashing a conversation or wandering off in my own little world. Oh, and trying not to get nauseated. Bus rides are a little tricky for me. I'm just glad I don't have to take the ferry.

Also, since there's always construction or something going on, I like seeing the progress & change.

I often see people waiting in doctors' offices for a long time without reading or doing anything else. It would drive me mad.

That's so cool about Annabel and her book. I think that one reason so few people read is that they have no role models. Their parents don't read; no one on television reads. Television homes rarely have bookshelves.

I often see people waiting in doctors' offices for a long time without reading or doing anything else. It would drive me mad.

Yeah. It was really annoying to spend hours in a waiting room with my eyes dilated so I couldn't read.

I'm usually planning something or rehashing a conversation or wandering off in my own little world.

That makes sense, as does Liese's just being. And it's not like I never look out the window. I mean, there's this one stretch of my commute with water and, on a good day, mountains, that doesn't stop being spectacular just because I've seen it before. I'm just so addicted to reading--I get twitchy if I don't have a book or two readily at hand. Plus, and I know this is lame, I'm in a race with myself to see how many books I'll finish this year! I'm on pace to beat last year's total of 120 easily (thanks to now being a bus rather than a car commuter), but I want to see if I can hit 150.

The downside of being a bus commuter is I'm much less informed about what's going on in the world now that I don't get 30-45 minutes of Morning Edition/All Things Considered each way.