My folks don’t read in the bathroom. So, growing up, I’d grab toothpaste boxes, or soap boxes, or whatever was within reach, and have a contest between the "A"s and the "E"s.
"E"s almost always won. So, of course, I rooted for the "A"s.
I’ve been thinking about picking up one of those Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers, anyone have one? They seem like perfect material.
I can hardly bring myself to pinch a loaf unless I’ve got something to peruse, Reader’s Digest is always quality, but news magazines work well too. And of course you can’t go wrong with Maxim or even Cosmo (great pictures).
I had one of them, and they are.
I don’t keep anything in the bathroom now for reading (my bathroom’s too small), I just grab whatever newspaper/ magazine/ book I might have lying around in the living room.
The New Yorker was especially created for reading in the john. It’s not for the Little Old Lady in a Dubuque Outhouse, though.
We have three of them now! (I think that means we have to add a third bathroom to the house;) )
We really enjoy them.
Hubby and I have always been bathroom readers (in fact, is anyone else here shocked when they go into someone elses’ bathroom and there’s nothing to read? How in the world do they manage to do what they have to do?) Anyway, when our oldest daughter was just about 4 years old, she went into the bathroom, and didn’t come out for a while. When I went in to check on her, there she sat, on the toilet, with one of her fathers’ books open in her lap. Of course, with no pictures or anything, she had no clue what she was looking at. But she had internalized the message: when on the john, reading is mandatory!
I love to read the backs of shampoo bottles, medicine labels, prescription information, etc, etc. I don’t know why.
I do. When I walk in and don’t see a huge pile of magazines and books, I wonder. What the heck do they DO?
I got my sister started when I lived at home. She just started picking up my books and reading em.
:::::raising hand:::::
I typically leave a different book in every bathroom in the house - mainly because if I need to get into the bathroom in a hurry, I will always have a book waiting for me. At the moment, Fannie Flagg’s “Welcome to the World, Baby Girl” is in the upstairs bathroom, and “Jane Eyre” is in my downstairs bathroom.
I think I inherited the bathroom reading from my dad. Both of us will spend a minimum of fifteen minutes reading on the toilet at least twice a day. (Of course, there’s not a need to light an entire pack of matches when I leave the bathroom, unlike him, but that’s another story altogether:D.)
Ava
Whatever I happen to be reading at the time, so it might be a textbook, Road & Track or NG, a novel, or the newspaper. The problem is, I am reluctant to get up until I’ve come to a good breaking point. So, if I read a page, then finish my business, I’ve still got to read another 5 to get to the end of the chapter, which had better not be some cliff-hanging ending, or I’ll have to start in the next one, soon leading to total loss of blood flow to the legs.
I’d recommend (Reccommend? Recomend? Reccomend?) to anyone a stereo in the bathroom. If you’re on the porcelain throne, sans reading material, you can just listen to the radio. When you’re in the shower, you can not only have some tunes (which may cover your (or, in any case, my) horrid singing), which also helps keep tabs on how long you’ve been in there, especially on those early mornings.
The daily fishwrapper is ideal but don’t whistle while you’re at it if the in-laws are in the next room.
Since I’m a grad student in Semitics, I go through my Hebrew flashcards on the crapper. I also read The Onion. Novels don’t work too well for me because I get too involved and my legs go numb. I’m glad others have had the same experience with that, by the way. I thought there was something wrong with my circulation or something.
Amazing. Thirty responses already and not a single negative one. How did you get so lucky? When I started a thread What’s in your bathroom library?, I got all these people going “Eewww, gross, how can you do anything so disgusting?”
I have lots of books, and subscriptions to magazines, and precious little time to read them without being disturbed, so I’ll grab anything within reach on my way in. I get more books read this way. I keep the one I’m currently reading on my desk at work, and when I have to go at work, I take it along. Even though I usually get done in two minutes or less, that’s two minutes devoted to reading. I’m not one of those people who can sit there for lengthy periods. I go according to what John Glenn called “got-to time.” You don’t go until you “got to.” Then it’s over quickly.
I hope those anti-readers stay out of this thread. I don’t want to have a debate on the acceptability of bathroom reading. And I don’t think it’s disgusting. It’s not like I’m wiping with the book, or whatever.
One of my friends studied for one of those hard pre-med science classes (Organic Chem? Something like that) by laminating all her notes and study sheets and taping them up in the shower, in front of the toilet, all over the bathroom. I may have to try it if I ever take anything hard.
Nothin’ better than these! Maxim and MAD, too.
I read, or play “hardball” on my Palm. With the sound muted. 
Peace,
mangeorge
This is my favorite bathroom reading book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595094724/qid=1052695108/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6859914-5808808
For me it’s the Oxford Dictionary of Quotation. I like the Latin and Greek ones.
*The Economist * always finds it way into my john. I typically get through two or three articles before my legs go numb. If I’m reading a really good novel I’ll take that with me instead and read through a chapter or two. I’ve also been known to take the laptop in there to read SDMB or Slashdot (I have an extra long ethernet cable just for that.)
I used to have a boss that was a big fan of bathroom reading, he’d walk out of the office with a big stack of IT trade magazines, half an hour later he’d come back and proudly announce “Guess what I just got paid $13.62 to do!” He’d actually calculate exactly how much he got paid for his reading break down to the minute so he usually had a different number to report. He was the best boss I’ve ever had.
I have to admit: I don’t get bathroom reading. I have nothing against it, and I don’t think it’s disgusting… I just don’t understand the appeal.
Wouldn’t you rather sit somewhere comfy and read? Is it mostly a matter of the bathroom being the one room in the house where you’re not going to be bothered?