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Reading in the Loo

  • Jun. 24th, 2009 at 10:44 AM
hooded eyes


Random poll here.  I'm not sure there is a delicate way to ask this, so here it goes.

How many people out there are like me and MUST read when on the toilet? 

I'm not talking about liquid dispersion, but definetely solid waste elimination.  And I'm not talking about a preference, an activity to while away the time, or a way to multi-task.  I'm talking about a compulsion.  I'm talking about a need to read in order to accomplish fully and well the task at hand.  If there isn't a book, you read the shampoo bottle or the back of any packaging within reach. 

I have a theory that this is all somehow connected to the creative process.  That for something to "come out" there is the need for something to be taken in.  Now, logically, it seems like food is what was taken in, but maybe, for us creative types, it has to be something more internal and more immediately present?  

I don't know.  I look forward to hearing other's thoughts (but that might be a mistake:)

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Comments

( 13 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]dianavilliers wrote:
Jun. 23rd, 2009 11:04 pm (UTC)
No, no I don't, but then I'm not a writer, and tend to hoard the words I have.
I do need to read before sleep unless I'm really completely exhausted.
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[info]rippatton wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 03:41 am (UTC)
I like to read before bed- if I don't have to get up in the morning. The problem is a good book will keep me up all night reading. I suppose if I wanted to go to sleep, I'd have to read more poorly written books?
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[info]dbara wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 12:53 am (UTC)
I have a magazine rack with books and novels in it, so that I can switch subjects when I want.

db
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[info]rippatton wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 03:39 am (UTC)
Of course. But I think they should manufacture toilet paper with novels printed on it. Then books could be sized by how many rolls they take. You know, is your book a four roll, a six roll, twelve roll or a twenty-four roll?

Would save trees and meet my reading needs.
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[info]punktortoise wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 11:56 pm (UTC)
I can foresee at least two problems with the idea of printing novels on toilet paper. First, you'd have to go through all the rolls in the correct order. Skip a roll, and you might strike a spoiler. Second, it'd only work if there's only one person using the paper. Otherwise you run the risk of finding that someone else has used the climactic scene from Chapter 18, leaving you in the dark as to what actually happened to the heroine. So overall, I don't think it'd work that well for novels. It'd be slightly better for novellas (which would presumably fit on just one roll) and brilliant for flash.

[Mind you, for a truly bad novel, it could be the ultimate act of criticism...]

And if they do ever decide to try the idea, I have the perfect brand name for it:

Flush Fiction!
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[info]rippatton wrote:
Jun. 25th, 2009 09:29 am (UTC)
Good point on the "loss" of your book by the use of others. Still, that happens all the time at my house. I'll get a great book and have to fight over it with children and hubby, and we all have bookmarks and dibs on who gets to read it in bed.

Still, at the end of the day it isn't in the septic tank.

Flush Fiction! I love it. Hey, if you put
Tweet fiction on TP surely you could fit a story on each square. I think that would work.
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[info]punktortoise wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 11:00 pm (UTC)
Apparently, while we've been idly speculating, someone else has been acting on the idea:

http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/novel-idea-bathroom-reading/?ref=fashion

(you may need to perform cut-and-paste link surgery to get the above all on one line)
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[info]snowy_owlet wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 01:38 am (UTC)
My friend, I am not in your camp. Poopin' time is thinkin' time.
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[info]rippatton wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 03:36 am (UTC)
To each her own:)
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[info]anniekingwrites.blogspot.com wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 02:30 am (UTC)
Yes, I do, and I must, read, while I am in the bathroom. If I don't have something I'm currently reading at hand, and after running around the house not finding it, I'll grab something, anything with words on it (a different book, newspaper, or magazine) on my way to the bathroom door. If I can't find a book, I grab a notebook, so I can write instead. (Now, that's if I'm at home, or in a motel; If I'm at work, I just do what I need to do.)

I have to have something to read while I eat, too, unless I'm out for a meal with friends or family, and even, then, if it's just me, my husband, and son- my son and I tend to be reading before the meal arrives. How about you?

For me, eating or using the bathroom without something to read, is not only boring; it's a waste of valuable time! An interesting (and embarassing) poll! However, I do think I'd succeed in the task at hand, even if I didn't have a book to read. (I'd use my imagination, and work on some story in my head. Or,I'd read the shampoo bottle.)
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[info]rippatton wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 03:32 am (UTC)
I suppose I might have exagerated about not being able to go without something to read, but not by much.

Ah, I also like to read when I eat, but only do it when dining alone. It just feels too rude to me if anyone else is about (like watching TV while eating which was an absolute no-no in my house). Not an issue for my kiddos though, as we don't have a television.

And now you know how TRULY strange we are.
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[info]jl_johnson wrote:
Jun. 24th, 2009 12:34 pm (UTC)
Hun, I think you need more fibre in your diet. :P

To be honest, I'm not in there long enough to even pull out anything to read.
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[info]rippatton wrote:
Jun. 25th, 2009 09:31 am (UTC)
sounds like you need more fiber in your fiction:)
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( 13 comments — Leave a comment )