A New Level of Mind Boggling Literature.

We all know those books – the non-put-down-able, addicting, totally mind gripping ones…the ones you stop watching your favorite TV series to read more of …the ones that make you begín to avoid your household duties ( let them have pizza for dinner!) and some of us may even skip basic hygiene (If I don´t shower I can read 15 more minutes!)….

We´ve all read them. We all have our list.

But did you know that there is a whole other LEVEL of mind boggling literature?? Yes Yes!…Above what any of us have previously experienced? These books are only for a chosen few…They are hard to find … but I have one of those books located…oh yes I do…I know exactly where to find it.

Let me explain.

I take the metro (subway) everyday to work. I am 4 stops from my home to my job. Really not enough time to do anything except stare ahead and look thoughtful.

OR so I thought.

Everyday after I get on the metro at my stop, the same woman gets on at the next stop….. The metro is usually crowded at 8 a.m. so it rare to get a seat. We all must hang on to the poles and try and not invade anyone´s personal space which is imposible. I have rubbed up against some men on the metro more then to my own husband. But anyway….

So anyway, this lady gets on. We´ll call her Booklady. Everyday Booklady gets on and grabs her part of a pole and while hanging on with one hand, begins fishing something out of her bag… No small feat considering that the Seville metro is not a smooottthhhh ride……the subway car kinda lurches to a start and then reeves up and then WHHOOOOOSSSHHH, You are off to the races!!!! I personally have seen a old man in a wheelchair go flying down the aisle, aide in tow, cuz she did not put the wheelchair break on in time. Luckily us people on the poles at the end stopped them.

So Booklady is fishing thru her bag, holding on for dear life and you are thinking (if you´ve never seen her) – what could be so important? So essential??…Is her cell phone ringing with an important call even though there is no coverage down in the metro?? Does she have a bugger then needs immediate kleenex attention?….. and then she takes it out. THE BOOK. The Book that is on a new mindboggling level. A Book so ADDICTING, so GOOD, so UNPUTDOWNABLE that she is willing to put her life at stake to read it standing , smooshed between tons of strangers while hanging on to a pole…but here is the catch.

For 2 stops. She gets off after two stops. WHAT BOOK IS SO GOOD YOU CAN NOT STOP READING IT FOR EVEN 2 MINUTES YOU ARE ON THE METRO?

I mean, I can understand the reading on the metro. I can understand people sitting reading the newpaper or a book….Usually these are people who are going long ways, from one end to the other of metro line…and have a SEAT. .But 2 stops? Standing?

What book can be so GOOD you ask? Are you all on the edge of your seats waiting for the title???

Well, sorry, I don´t know it. Cuz ya see, she has one of those nifty leather covers on it. Yip, you know…the ones people give as stocking stuffers or gifts to teachers….. Cuz god forbid you buy one for yourself… cuz then you look like a pervert who reads porno and doesn´t want anyone to know. So when someone says suspicously “Oh what a cute book cover!”, you can say “Oh yeah, my sister got it for me for Christmas!” ….and you are off the pervert hook.

(Come to think of it, I coulda used one of those when my sister send me a book called “Guilty Pleasures” from the Anita Blake Vampire series where blood abounded but sex was in sore lacking…but I spent last summer trying to hide the title after getting some weird looks on the beach.)

So no, I don´t know the title. Sorry to leave anyone reading in suspense. One of these days I might just ask her. If I have time to talk to her in the time it takes the metro to go 2 STOPS. And I haven´t had good pole location to look over her shoulder yet – darn.

I must say she´s got the technique pretty down though. The pole-gripping/reading with one hand technique…and then DING DONG! "Prado de San Sebastián" and she whips that book into her bag and she is out the door…I´m wondering if she takes it out again on the escalator….. In the elevators? I mean its that good a book ….RIGHT?????

P.S. The old man in the wheelchair who flew down the aisle was fine. After his quick trip down metro lane, the aide got control of the wheelchair and was able to put on the break. She and her friend thought the whole thing obviously hilarious cuz they kept looking at each other and laughing hystercially to the point of tears. The poor old man though – he looked like a terrified trapped animal and gripped the side of his wheelchair for the rest of the trip.

Hmmm….HE coulda used that good book to calm down.