# What books and reading materials are in your bathroom right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053 "2004-04-08T23:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/41 "2004-04-09T16:30:47Z")
TV Guide, Jimmy Swaggert study Bible (hey, 50 cents at a used book sale, OK!) a cynical reporter’s book on the scientific, mystical & UFOlogist searches for ET intelligence ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/42 "2004-04-09T16:37:59Z")
> [@Lobelia Overhill](#): > > No reading materials at all … > > Am I sick, do I need help? I think we need to start a group, for some therapy. Would any of you like to be my bathroom buddy? Ya know, someone to remind me to take reading material into the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/43 "2004-04-09T18:02:50Z")
I had a bathroom buddy when I was a little kid. {cue flashback music and scene distortion} It was this plastic doll kinda thing with overalls and a red checked shirt (think of a skinny Bob’s Big Boy) that my grandmother would fill with water. I’d hold the doll next to me, facing the toilet, and when I’d pee, he’d pee. That’s all I remember about it. ---
**Author:** ![jellytoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jellytoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellytoes)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/44 "2004-04-09T21:04:08Z")
since we just moved i was forced to clear out the reading stash. in addition to all the shampoo bottles there are several cans of paint to read and some instructions on installing a new vanity light (in spanish and french, too!). usually there is the mammoth book of erotica (several volumes rotate), a paperback dictionary and various magazines. mr. toes doesn’t read on the pot (what a waste) so all of the above are mine. ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/45 "2004-04-09T22:30:46Z")
> [@misstee](#): > > I think we need to start a group, for some therapy. > Would any of you like to be my bathroom buddy? Ya know, someone to remind me to take reading material into the bathroom. I guess my family belongs in this club too. At my parents house there was always a stack of magazines in there. It infuriated me when my mother went in with the newspaper as I knew it would be over an hour and invariably I needed to pee during that time. There was hell to pay if you disturbed her. I vowed to never begin the practice of bathroom reading. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@Mona\_Lott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lott)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/46 "2004-04-10T00:15:52Z")
Diesels of the Southern Railway 1939–1982 What? What do you mean by WEIRD? Doesn’t everyone want to know about the 70 SD45 locomotives that Southern operated? ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/47 "2004-04-10T00:48:45Z")
No one has “The Straight Dope” in their bathroom? If I had reading material in my bathroom, that would be it. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/48 "2004-04-10T01:04:03Z")
I am so glad I opened this thread! It made me remember that I brought the book contact in there, left it there after I finished defecating, and later I thought I lost it! ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/49 "2004-04-10T01:16:57Z")
> [@tanookie](#): > > At my parents house there was always a stack of magazines in there. It infuriated me when my mother went in with the newspaper as I knew it would be over an hour and invariably I needed to pee during that time. There was hell to pay if you disturbed her. I vowed to never begin the practice of bathroom reading. Until 2001, my family of four lived in a house with one bathroom. I didn’t allow books in there at all for this very reason. When your house has three bedrooms and one bathroom, it makes far more sense to choose one of the former when you want some privacy for uninterrupted reading. Although we now live with the luxury of three (count 'em, three) bathrooms, I was thinking that we still don’t keep reading material in any of them. I realized, though, that I do keep a stack of magazines by the jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom - usually the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, People, Newsweek, Us, and any other reading material I don’t mind risking near water. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/50 "2004-04-10T01:27:57Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > If I’m really fascinated with what I’m reading, I might carry it to the bathroom with me, but I hope I never, EVER, take so long in the bathroom that I need to stock reading material. > > (40 and “going” strong) When I was younger, having reading material in the bathroom was very important, today I concur with **Nametag** 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/51 "2004-04-10T01:44:50Z")
The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook. The Collected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, bilingual version. ( - this is the one I pick up whenever I sit down. Even if you only have a few seconds, something good is always available in this one.) The Vitamin Bible. They’ve all been in the bathroom for over a year now. What they must have witnessed so far! ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053/52 "2004-04-10T01:48:41Z")
About a year’s worth of Card Player magazine and Sun Tzu [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-and-reading-materials-are-in-your-bathroom-right-now/239053.md?page=2)