Incidental Reading

At Shelf Awareness, Robert Gray discusses "incidental reading." For example, reading a couple stanzas of Emerson's Representative Men on his iPod while waiting in the check-out line at the grocery store:

If I stood in the same place and read my hardbound copy [of Emerson's Representative Men], I'd feel conspicuous and a little pretentious. But I can read anything in public on an iPod and nobody cares, since it looks like I'm checking my phone or performing any of the other blips and bleeps that keep us going these days.

Incidental reading is a great way add a little extra meaning to an otherwise full day. For my incidental reading, I turn to the short stories published by One Story, a non-profit literary organization that publishes one carefully-selected short story every three weeks. Each installment of One Story is compact—20 or so pages printed as a small, monochromatic booklet—and perfect for slipping into a purse or pocket.