People Reading

November 19, 2019, Tuesday evening -- Reading Jon Fosse

At a laundromat in the Mission District

He is reading Melancholy, by Jon Fosse. It was such a long time ago that I took this picture that I can no longer find my notes about our conversation.

November 14, 2019, Thursday morning -- Reading C. G. Jung

At a coffee shop

He is reading Memories, Dreams, Reflections, by C. G. Jung.
His favorite authors are Conrad, Hawthorne, and Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi.

November 8, 2019, Friday evening -- Reading Elizabeth Kolbert

In the Mission District

She is reading The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert. She's reading it for her book club at work. Coincidentally, I also recently read this book for a book club that I'm in, too.

Her favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut and of his books her favorite is Slaughterhouse-Five. She's read it over and over. It's a quick read. The last time she read it was about two years ago.

Something else good she read recently was the novel Steps, by Jerzy Kosiński, which was published in 1968 and won U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. She described it as fun.

November 3, 2019, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Barbara Wertheim Tuchman

At a park on Potrero Hill overlooking the city and the hills on the other side of the valley

He is reading The Guns of August and The Proud Tower, by Barbara Wertheim Tuchman. The Guns of August is about the beginning of World War I and the author won a Pulitzer Prize for it. The Proud Tower is a collection of essays about different places in Europe and events leading up to World War I. He'd read The Proud Tower in high school. Before this book he was reading something by Margaret McMillan (I forgot which book), which compelled him to re-read Barbara Wertheim Tuchman.

His favorite book is probably The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which he read about 6 months ago and would like to re-read it.

Recently he read Five Days Gone, by Laura Cumming, about a child who disappeared from a small English costal town, and everyone in the town knew where the child had gone.

Next up he's planning on re-reading Ulysses, by James Joyce, which he read about 20 years ago.

October 26, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Toni Morrison

In Potrero Hill before the Halloween pet parade at Farley's

He is reading Beloved, by Toni Morrison. He'd been meaning to read this since she passed away in August.

His favorite author is Gabriel García Márquez. He is Columbian and his family knew Gabriel García Márquez. He's read all of his books, everyone in his family has. His favorite is Cien años de soledad, or in English, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Another Columbian author he likes is the journalist Héctor Abad Faciolince. Next up, after he finishes Beloved, is El olivido que seremos, by this author. In English the title is Oblivion: A Memoir.

October 8, 2019, Tuesday night -- Reading Juliette Aristides

On the train

She is reading Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice, by Juliette Aristides. She is studying art and this book was recommended by a classmate. She quit her job 6 months ago to study art. She's interested in classical portrait painting.

Her favorite author is Haruki Murakami.

October 8, 2019, Tuesday evening -- Reading Bill Bryson

In the Financial District

He is reading A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. It was recommended by a friend. Something else good he's read recently is I am a Strange Loop, a non fiction book about consciousness, by Douglas Hofstadter. These days his favorite author is Steven Pinker.

October 6, 2019, Sunday morning -- Reading Sax Rohmer and Trina Robbins

In the Mission District, on an amazingly warm and beautiful morning

He is reading Dope, a comic book adopted and illustrated by Trina Robbins, based on a pulpy "drug panic" novel from the 1940s (opium). He got it at Mission Comics. He likes the person who wrote the forward, C. Spike Trotman, a cartoonist and publisher.

Right now they are working their way through The Dark Rising, a young adult fantasy series published in the 60s and 70s by Susan Cooper that his mother read him when he was young.

September 23, 2019, Monday morning -- Reading a guidebook

In the Mission District, waiting for a bus

He is reading Let's Go: Greece & Turkey. He found the book at the bus stop and was looking at the maps. He said he really only picked up the book because of the picture of the cows stuffed inside. He asked me if I wanted the book. I said no, although I am interested in Greece and Turkey, especially since I just ate amazing Musaka and a stuffed pepper at the Greek Festival yesterday. I now feel a little guilty about not saying yes to the book because when I said no, he tossed the book in the trash on his way to get on the bus. I admit that one of the reasons I didn't want the book was because it looked too dirty to put in my bag. He probably thought the same thing.

September 14, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Deborah Eisenberg

In the Mission District, on a warm and sunny day

He is reading a collection of short stories called Your Duck is My Duck, by Deborah Eisenberg. He was drawn to it by the sticker that says it's a Notable Book of the Year. Before this he read Normal People, by Sally Rooney, set in Dublin, and also another book of short stories called The Houseguest: And Other Stories, by Amparo Dávila.

August 31, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Greek women poets

At a laundromat in the Mission District

He is reading Greek Women Poets, published by Thelphini Press. He said he loves reading for the flow of the words. He was just at Community Thrift, down the street, where he buys books sometimes. He also buys books from catalogs. The other books he just bought are Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays, published by Dover Thrift Editions; Burning The Maid: Poems for Joan of Arc, by Marcy Heidish; and Tree in the Trail, by Holling Clancy Hollins, which he bought for the pictures (he's an artist) and because he had Tree in the Trail and other Holling Clancy Hollins books when he was a kid.

August 25, 2019, Sunday night -- Reading Jeff Guinn

At the laundromat

She is reading The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, by Jeff Guinn. She heard about it from a podcast called Last Podcast on the Left. It's been on her reading list for a while and she finally got around to it. Recently she's also read The Secret History by Donna Tartt and My Sister, the Serial Killer, a black comedy thriller that was long-listed for the Booker Prize, by Oyinkan Braithwaite, a Nigerian author. (I just put a hold on it at the library.) Her two favorite books are The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, by Patrick Suskind, translated by John Woods.

I had waited to the last minute to photograph a reader this week and on Sunday night, on my 45-minute walk home from dinner at a friend's house I peeked into every taqueria, fast food restaurant laundromat, bar, and donut shop hoping to see someone with a book. I was almost home and about to forgo posting this week when I saw this reader in the back corner of a laundromat. Thanks again for letting me take your picture!

August 11, 2019, Monday afternoon -- Reading Stuart Gibbs

In Taichung, Taiwan, before a presentation at the World Congress on Extensive Reading

He is reading Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs. He usually reads detective or mystery stories, and spy novels. His two favorite authors are Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.

August 11, 2019, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Colin Cotterill

In Taichung, Taiwan, taking a reading break between presentations at the World Congress on Extensive Reading, a conference on how language learners can improve their language skills by extensively reading books at or below their level.

She is reading Slash and Burn, by Colin Cotterill. Her favorite book is usually the one she just finished reading. In this case, A Woman of No Importance, by Sonia Purnell, which she described as a well-researched page turner. A Woman of No Importance is about an American spy and guerrilla leader named Virginia Hall who worked with the French Resistance and fought against Nazi Germany during World War II. She was at the top of the most-wanted list and is now finally being recognized.

There were presentations from 9:30 am until 6:20 pm and if you go to all of them, you get information overload. Attendees have to balance their FOMO so they don't burn out. Maybe today I will take time out to read, too.

August 3, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Sukenari Hino

In Taipei, where I'm visiting, somewhere between my hotel in the Ximending District and the yoga studio (that does bilingual Mandarin / English classes!) in the Daan District

He is reading Grammaticalization of Japanese Pseudonouns and Auxilary Verbs: A Morphosyntactic and Semantic, by Sukenari Hino. He teaches Japanese to Taiwanese Buddhist monks.

July 11, 2019, Thursday evening -- Reading Kristen Arnett

Working at Adobe bookstore

She is reading Mostly Dead Things, a novel by Kristen Arnett, who is "Twitter famous."

One of her favorite authors is Octavia Butler. She just finished reading Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. On her list to read is Milkman, by Anna Burns, which won the Mann Booker Prize for Fiction in 2018, and Lost Children Archive, a novel by Valeria Luiselli, which was inspired by the issues at the Mexican border.

She is reading

July 10, 2019, Wednesday morning -- Reading Isabella Hammad

In the Financial District

She is reading The Parisian, by Isabella Hammad. She's reading it because she wants to become more knowledgable about what she missed out on in high school because she wasn't able to focus. The book is about the Middle East.

One of her favorite books is She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy, a memoir by Jill Soloway.

July 8, 2019, Monday evening -- Reading Shawn Achor

In the Financial District

He is reading The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work. Believe it or not, it was recommended by his employer.

He enjoys reading biographies, mostly biographies about fellow Brazilians and entrepreneurs. Recently he read a biography by Jack Welch, who was a General Electric CEO. Wikipedia says GE's value rose 4,000% while he was there.

June 30, 2019, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

At a cafe in the Mission District

He is reading Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide, by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. He's a fan of the authors' podcast.

His favorite book is 1984, by George Orwell. He's read it about once every five years for the past 25 years or so. Every time he reads it, it speaks to him in a different way.

Something else good he's read recently is the Locke and Key comic book series, illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez and written by Joe Hill, who is Stephen King's son.

June 24, 2019, Monday morning, Reading Viktor E. Frankl

In the Financial District

He is reading Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl. It was recommended by a friend.
If he had to pick a favorite book, it might be the Harry Potter series. It was the first series he read growing up.

In August, about 2 years ago I photographed another reader who was also reading Man's Search for Meaning, which compelled me to read the book. I really enjoyed it. It amazed me how strong people can be when they have purpose in their lives.

People Reading

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What I'm reading

November 19, 2019, Tuesday evening -- Reading Jon Fosse

November 14, 2019, Thursday morning -- Reading C. G. Jung

November 8, 2019, Friday evening -- Reading Elizabeth Kolbert

November 3, 2019, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Barbara Wertheim Tuchman

October 26, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Toni Morrison

October 8, 2019, Tuesday night -- Reading Juliette Aristides

October 8, 2019, Tuesday evening -- Reading Bill Bryson

October 6, 2019, Sunday morning -- Reading Sax Rohmer and Trina Robbins

September 23, 2019, Monday morning -- Reading a guidebook

September 14, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Deborah Eisenberg

August 31, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Greek women poets

August 25, 2019, Sunday night -- Reading Jeff Guinn

August 11, 2019, Monday afternoon -- Reading Stuart Gibbs

August 11, 2019, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Colin Cotterill

August 3, 2019, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Sukenari Hino

July 11, 2019, Thursday evening -- Reading Kristen Arnett

July 10, 2019, Wednesday morning -- Reading Isabella Hammad

July 8, 2019, Monday evening -- Reading Shawn Achor

June 30, 2019, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

June 24, 2019, Monday morning, Reading Viktor E. Frankl

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