Let’s see…where’s my soapbox…I know I put it around here somewhere…
Well the appeal for me is that I get bored easy and don’t like just staring at the tile wall. If I’m going to be sitting in there for five or ten minutes anyway I might as well bring something to read. I live alone so it’s not primarily about getting some time to myself, at least at home. At work, or in other situations where I’m forced to be around a lot of people, the “reading room” does become a sanctuary of sorts, 15 minutes of golden silence and solitude. Is especially nice on an airplane.
Also getting into the habit of reading while in there takes some of the, ahh, urgency out of the act. Makes it easier to just sit and relax and let nature take it’s course instead of pushing and straining on those slow days, if ya know what I mean. 
I’ve been reading in the john for decades. In fourth grade my teacher had to send someone in one day to retrieve me at dismissal time. In fifth we went to live in the Congo, and I read pretty much all of “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” on the pot while getting adjusted to the new environment.
Now I bring in whatever I am reading, but I also have a collection of puzzle books on a little table next to the john just in case I get bored. I’ve been know to take in two books just in case I stay long enough to run out.
To answer the question, yes there are other places more comfortable - but not reading there would be not reading, and that is awful.
PS - I heard on NPR yesterday that Microsoft is testing an internet terminal in portapots in England. Maybe soon we can read the SDMB on the pot.
I come from a long line of people who peruse the periodicals while positioning their poopers on the porcelin.
Ok, so I wrote that so someone would think, “Wow, that’s a lot of ‘p’,” and then start giggling about the scatological humor of it all. Well, it was funny for me.
I usually read Bukowski. His novels tend to read like short stories, so I can usually just read a chapter and go on my way. I’m also a big fan of the Nat. Geo. idea.
I must be the only guy here who flips through Penthouse on the crapper.
I thought there would have been more of us.
We have one bathroom. You’d better NOT be reading in the bathroom at my house.
I don’t get the allure.
Ha! I have these 2 books called Gazettes(?) for North and South Carolina. I probably have them memorized by now but I “read” them anyway. I know every creek and river within 50 miles of my house, which rivers in NC have trout in them and the elevations of every mountain above 6k ft in NC. I’ve always wanted to buy 2 more of each and make some huge murals in my bedroom.
And N.G.
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Was that not a kick ass article about Hillary and Everest?
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Neat! I thought I was the only one. I had 5 lane races, though. All the vowels were competing in mine. “O” and “I” can surprise you, especially on shampoo bottles.
Until recently, I read Playboy or Maxim on the crapper. Occasionally I would read a text book while sitting there. Then that all changed.
I went wireless.
Now I read this on the crapper.
Excuse me, I need to wipe.
I recommend the Big Book of… series. One-to-five-page comic stories on subjects as varied as Martyrs to The '70’s to Conspiracies. Perfect!
Aw, come on! I can’t be the only bathroom musician here!
Bass won’t fit in my bathroom. Though if I could…
US Road Atlas or World Atlas…kinda neat to figure out what interstates or US Highways begin and end, and what towns and states they run through; World Atlas just for the sake of knowledge…
Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader is always great to have around because they are broken down into 3 or 4 categories:
1 pagers for when no motivation is required,
2-3 pagers when slight help is needed
4-7 pagers when an extended period is needed
8+ pagers for a leg numbing experience
Some excerpts from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader(s)
I also enjoy my Sky and Telescope magazines on the crapper complete with my planesphere and Field Guide to Astronomy.
On quick notice, I grab my wife’s latest Victoria Secret catalogue and just oogle at the women – only problem is that something ends up touching the underim or water of the toilet and I just 
that…Therefore I can’t condone Penthouse and other notables are while on the john…
bwahaha
My 2nd post on your ickle board.
Who knew it would be the bathroom reading materials thread that would suck me back from lurkdom?:rolleyes:
I have always been a reader, however lately (as in the last 6 or 8 months) I have discovered the joy of Gameboy. Nothing like trying to beat my high score in Tetris.
My hubby just doesnt get it. He’s a ‘get in - get out as quick as possible’ kind of guy.
Seriously, try it. Tetris till your legs go numb is a whole 'nuther experience.
BTW on the “Marathon” setting at the hardest level I am at 1,115,000 give or take a hundred or so. Sheesh that was a long one that time 
I keep whatever I happen to be reading at the moment close by. My husband doesn’t get the concept of reading while on the pot. It doesn’t bother him that I do it, but he’s not the type to typically do such a thing. My choice in books isn’t that bad; the original MASH novel, Red Dragon a couple of weeks ago… you get the picture. While on vacation, (reading in the car to pass the time,) I started in on the Sleeping Beauty series from Anne Rice. I made it through the first two on the trip and started the third one when I returned home. DH must’ve gotten really bored while sitting one day, because he picked up Beauty’s Release and started reading. Now, for those of you who don’t know, the Sleeping Beauty series is pure erotica, of an ‘anything goes’ nature. Needless to say, I shocked my poor dear husband badly with my choice of reading material. I’m still catching a bad time for it. So, it’s back to the PG rated reading material for me. Of course, the next time he starts in on my choice of reading locations, I can casually mention that he is now as guilty as I am.