Fun Websites for Book Voyeurs

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If you always want to know about what everyone else is reading then here are a couple of websites you're sure to enjoy:

Underground New York Public Library

Whenver I see someone reading in public I can't resist trying to casually get a look at the book's cover to see what they are reading. Apparently I'm not the only one who does this because there is a whole Tumbr site dedicated to pictures of people reading in the New York subway. It's facinating to go through it and see the different kind of books that are being read and the variety of people who are reading them.

This site been getting a lot of attention lately since it was recently mentioned in the Huffington Post. I followed a link to it from one of Brent Weeks' Tweet in which he points out that his book, The Way of Shadows, is being read in the featured photo.

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The Books They Gave Me

Make sure that you visit this site when you have plenty of free time because, if you're like me, you'll be hard pressed to tear yourself away.

Each entry tells the story behind a book that someone had received and how the book had impacted them or their relationship. Some of the stories are romantic, others are whimsical or sad. Whenever I visit this site I think back to the books on my shelf and the stories behind some of them. Perhaps someday I'll submit one of my own stories to this site.

I’d seen this girl on the bus several times and thought she was pretty cute, but I was afraid to ask her out. She was always so engrossed in the books she brought on the bus, it seemed impossible to try to talk to her and so I put her out of my mind.

Over time, I started seeing her less and less on the bus. She was taking a different route, I supposed. Eventually, a few weeks had passed and I hadn’t seen her at all.

Finally, I saw her again. I was feeling pretty confident that day and before she was able to pull out her book, I introduced myself. We got to talking and even went to a nearby coffee shop and had a really great conversation. We talked mostly about books and she told me her favorite was Larry McMurty’s All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers. I’d never even heard of it, but she insisted it had one of the best endings in literature. I was about to ask her out when my boss called my cell wondering why I was so late for work. I had to leave before I could even get her number.

A few days later, I saw her again. She was getting on just as I was getting off, but she stopped me. She thrust a book into my hands and insisted that I keep it. I thanked her and started reading as soon as I got home.

All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers is now my favorite book. Not just because it’s incredibly well-written and interesting, but it’s something more: when I reached the end, taped to the last page was a note. It said how she’d kept seeing me on the bus and wished I’d talk to her. How she was so nervous, she’d hold a book in her hands like a shield, stealing glances whenever I wasn’t looking. And she was right, it had one of the best endings ever: her number.

We’ve been married for three years now.