The best reading spot of all: Your car!
Last week when I wrote about the best and worst places to read a book in summer, I completely forgot my favorite. I was going to just tack this item onto the list, when I realized that it deserved a standalone article of its own.
Over the years I have done more reading in my car than any other location away from home. I should start by saying that I am a little bit hampered when it comes to reading. I cannot read in the face of too many distractions. If the café music is too loud or contains distracting lyrics, or if people are talking too noisily, I can't get into my book. And I absolutely cannot stand it when someone interrupts my reading. I also lean toward reading outside the home, because when I'm home it's hard to push aside all the distractions and to-do lists in order to concentrate on my book.
These problems make it virtually impossible for me to read at many coffee shops, or anywhere during the work day when I might be interrupted by a coworker. I have gone to great lengths to find good reading places, but my own car is far and away the best one.
When the weather is cold, you can do your reading after having driven around a while to warm the car up. (Do not leave the car idling while you read!) When the weather is warm, you can park in a shady spot, open the windows, and let the breeze through. And in all forms of weather you can retreat to the lower levels of a parking garage to find solitude in your car.
Back in my commuting days, at lunchtime I would drive to another office building's parking lot to read (in order to reduce the chances of being interrupted by coworkers). These days I bring a book along when I run errands. I love to park in the back corner of a big parking lot under some trees and take a short reading break.
Image courtesy Flickr/jgrimm