Reading in the toilet..

Some people sing. Some pray and meditate. Some smoke. Some have sex. I read.

I don't know when I started reading in the toilet. I have memories of hearing 'Hurry up and get out ,  you musse got a book in there'. I remember books, newspapers, old magazines and then in my teenage years, porno magazines.

It is now a bit addictive though. No matter how urgent, no matter the rush, I still try to grab something to read.

Normally I read the newspapers of the day before. It is annoying when I pick up the wrong newspapers. And I have to be kind of careful.. because eyebrows are raised when I pick up the whole pile of Sunday papers .. as though I would not be coming out.

The legend goes that I got my first name from toilet reading. The patra said my name had to start with "De' (as Dee sound) and they could not find any.. My father apparently was reading a Times magazine article about Moshe Dayan, an Israeli Minister and shouted out to my mother from the toilet.. "Gyurl we get a name. Deyan.". Deyan is a Slavic name.  I dont know what my name would have been if my father had been reading the Bible or so. maybe Devid, or Deniel.

I have to be careful what I carry in. Books of short stories, magazines, maybe poetry.. things which have short pieces so you could kind of identify an end when to get up and leave. And also to avoid cramp. Novels are complicated.. interesting ones especially.. many a time my legs have frozen as I hurry to finish a chapter. Text books.. difficult, I have studied from notes in an exercise book.


Germs.. yes.. I know.. in our book club we have a don't ask don't tell policy. My thinking is that money is more dirty than the books passing around. However, I still feel funny about reading religious books in the toilet. And I also will not take any recipe books into the toilet.. I mean moving from toilet tank to kitchen counter is just not on. Though I know with recipes cut from newspapers.. well I hear newspapers and carbon combination just seem to resist the germs

I remember in the UK picking up newspapers from bus seats and train seats. However, I have seen newspapers left near washroom hand dryers and on the tops of Urinals. I have never picked those up though.. but I have twisted around to read a headline while taking a leak.

And truth be told to the book club, that were it not for the fact that my bowel habits are fairly regular, sometimes more than regular,  I might not have been able to complete some of the book club books. I do try my best to keep the book clean and away from any germs. I have thought of using those sterile wipes before I read books. but what the heck.


But I know.. books go on dining tables and coffee tables.. from the tops of toilet tanks or from the floors of toilets. But I think the book fairy and the toilet fairy have a thing going on and people will not get sick.

I know some people have magazine racks in their toilets. Another lady I know had a nice table with lots of reading material laid out. Other places I think. .it is deliberate.. they just have dim light... but with these new mobile devices.. who knows.. (I wonder how many people are reading this blog in the toilet). But I dont know, I would be scared if a kindle or ipad or iphone fell in the toilet.

I also thought about this blog this morning in the toilet. I reached the end of the first chapter and closed the book because I had things to get done. I can't name the novel though, the owner will probably cuss me.