…that’s why I placed it face down on my lap as soon as I took it out of my bookbag and opened it from the back. But no, you* looked under at the title anyway, and asked me what the title was! I told showed you, too, because I didn’t want to seem crazy. Now you know all my secrets, thank you! Ah, well. You were drunk anyway, so hopefully you’ll forget all about it.
*you=some stranger on the subway
Wasn’t this book by any chance, now was it? I felt the same way, sometimes, when I was reading it.
I figure it was either that one, or a Danielle Steel novel. 
You know, one of the best purchases I ever made was a paperback book cover. Now any time I go anywhere in public – including my subway-riding days – I can put that on whatever book I’m reading and voila! No more stupid questions from stupid people. I highly recommend investing in one iof you want to be left alone to read in peace. Works like a charm.
I just use a headset and a nasty look, personally, keeps the idiots away. Doesn’t work on the homeless, though.
I suggest using the cover, and should anyone be so determined to ask, I’d tell them it was the Good Book and start earnestly inquiring into whether they’ve found Jesus or not. It’s a conversation which will end in a hurry, I guarantee you.
Depends on where she is, Lissa, if she does it down South here, she may wind up in a conversation about Jesus…
Yup. You might just sit down next to JerseyDiamond. Next stop: Regret.
Like the time I was reading Small Gods in the kosher restaurant.
Girl: looking at Terry Pratchett’s picture in his black hat with the beard Oh, who’s the rabbi?
Me: Er, uh, um… he’s not a rabbi, it’s just a… yeah.
praying suddenly that she doesn’t ask what the title means
I will confess that I’m always dying of curiousity when I see someone reading on the subway. I try to be discreet about it, but I like trying to guess the reading material from the person’s outward appearance. I can report with some authority that the Good Book still tops the reading list with Ms. Steel a close second.
So? What WERE you reading that was so embarrassing anyway?
C’mon…'fess up. We’re all friends here. 
Hey, I see you got one of those fancy covers on that book. What you reading that you don’t want other people to see what it is? Is it porn? Is it? Where’d you get the cover? Was it expensive? Do they have any other colours? What are you getting off here for? Is it your stop?
I bought one of those little book weights to hold the book open so I can read hands-free. It could also double as the librarian version of nunchaks–toss that baby around and I’m sure people will stop interrupting you when you’re reading.
I’m just impressed by the thought of talking on the subway - on the London Underground it’s bad enough making eye contact with strangers, let alone having any conversation!
There is a legal minimum of one drunk/mental patient/plain weirdo per 50 passengers on any form of public transport. The reason strangers on the tube won’t make eye contact with you is that they’re worried you’re the one.
Not where I live there ain’t. After ‘peak’ hour, the ratio is 1:4 Pension day is a doozie especially. The breakdown on every second Thursday is prolly the other way round.
The stranger probably had read advice to make small talk about books, etc., as a way to pick up a date. It’s not his/her fault that you were reading something embarrassing.
I like reading a book on the subway and the line I take to work also stops at the Natural History museum. So frequently a group of school kids get on and crowd around and are usually a bit noisy but hey, they’re kids.
But boy did I get some strange looks from the teachers/parents of that girls school group when I got off the train when I had been readingLolita.
partial hijack There are exactly four books I’ve seen, more than once, being read on the metro. They are the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I’m not sure what this means, but definitely something.
That kind of describes sex in England as well, doesn’t it?
<rimshot>
-Joe
I wasn’t reading anything particularly embarassing, it was just my special book for me, and I didn’t want anyone to know about unless they discovered it on their own.