Length x Wit | Liza Oldham: Underground New York Public Library

Monday, July 2, 2012

Underground New York Public Library

"The Undiscovered Self," by Carl G. Jung

on the left she's reading "My Family and Other Animals," by Gerald Durrell. in the middle he's reading "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard," by Kiran Desai. on the right he's reading "Borrower of the Night," by Elizabeth Peters

on the left she's reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," by Rebecca Skloot. in the middle he's reading "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," by Mitch Albom

on the left he's reading "Trainspotting," by Irvine Welsh. on the right she's reading "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running," by Haruki Murakami

""Multiplication Is for White People": Raising Expectations for Other People's Children," by Lisa Delpit

I'm obsessed with Underground New York Public Library. One of the things I miss most about living in New York is seeing what people are reading on the subway. It's fascinating to have people's interests so clearly on display. For some, a book acted as an invitation, a sign of like-mindedness or familiarity. I watched readers strike up conversations over the tops of people's heads - "How is that? I've been wanting to read it." "Did you read her first book?" "I had to read that for class." While reading Atlas Shrugged, I had no less than 4 men come up to men and ask me what I thought. "Say hi to Howard Roark for me," said one in a three-piece suit as he exited the car. "You never see people reading the classics anymore," said another, who was no older than me. Whether knowingly or not, the book you bring with you becomes a part of how you present yourself to the world.

All photographs by Ourit Ben-Haim for her project, Underground New York Public Library.

1 comment:

patience said...: i didn't know about this link!
i loved your description of it as well. i agree about it being an indication of their interests. i live in a city with a great bus system (though no subways or anything) and so i see a lot of people reading. personally i can't read for very long on moving objects (which super upsets me)...unless it's a car trip and there is fresh air, and food to snack on and a continuous motion.

but enough about my motion sickness!

the point is that there is this really cute mail man who rides the bus for 6 of the same stops as me and i always want to burst out laughing because he's always totally engrossed in one of those old fantasy/science fiction novels. i can just imagine that he's got full series on his bookshelves at home.

i havre a kobo now which obviously has it's ups and downs but one pro is: when i'm reading some stupid book like fifty shades of grey - no one can judge me.

but seriously, don't read that book - it's worse writing than stephanie myers twilight books. and if you don't know how bad her writing is than go to youtube and type in "alex reads twilight"

i don't know why this is so long!!!; July 2, 2012 at 7:40 PM