These days it really is impossible to judge a book by its coverâ??"most books don’t have them anymore. At least not ones others can see. With ebook covers visible only to the reader, voyeuristic pleasure is gone for those who like spying on what others are reading on the train.
Since it started three years ago, CoverSpy, a Tumblr that reveals what New Yorkers are reading on the subway, has dipped in frequency of posts. And there’s something decidedly less intriguing in a shot of an ereader and “Title Unknown, Author Unknown (M, 40s, salt & pepper hair, gold wedding band, blue Timbuk2 bag, Q train)” than there is to pairing the cover of Bret Easton Ellis’ The Informers with “F 20s, black coat, standing really close on a not so crowded f train.”
Even street artist Dan Witz’s paintings of people entranced by the glow of their phones, where they could be reading anything from a text to Tolstoy, don’t hold a candle to the street style-ish blog Underground New York Public Library. There you get a glimpse through scratched-up subway windows of the stories on the page people find so much more absorbing than the ones around them. Or you look at a photo of a girl in a red raincoat intent on Life of Christ and you’re sent into a literary loop, reminded of the fictional Franny Glass wearing a raccoon fur as she emerges from a train a changed person after reading The Way of a Pilgrim.
Of course there are definite advantages to toting a Kindle instead of schlepping a tome. So we have a solution if you still want to flaunt your taste. Choose one of these chic Kindle or covers and you’ll be sure to catch the eye of a literary (or style) spy.
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