reading on the railroad

Happy 2013. I know I've been MIA for a while, but I'm going to try and be better about posting here this year.  It's hard to figure out what this blog should be about. It was originally about my quest to become a real arts professional, and now I am one, but posting about work would be boring. But I like to write and tell stories, so maybe I'll pop in now and again and do that. Cool?

So, I commute from the suburbs into the city to work. It's maybe a 30 minute train ride, followed by a brief ride by bus (don't even get me started on the CTA. Another time, another time.) - my time is spent usually with a good book (hooray for my new kindle!)

Some kind soul at the public library, recognizing that reading material is a commuter's best friend, set up a bookshelf in the station house. The books on there are.... interesting. It's a combination of books that people leave for their fellow patrons and cast offs/weed outs from the library's collection.  Sometimes you can find some good reads - I came across a Patricia Cornwell novel (it's one of her older ones, but I've just started reading her books, so I was excited to find this one), and once somebody left a (kind of old) copy of Studs Terkel's book The Good War.  I am a nerd, I know, and this one excited me a whole bunch.

Mostly though, the books on the shelf are old trashy romances. These were largely uninteresting to me until one day when I was bored and started checking out the titles. Since then, I've been making notes of some of the books featured on the shelf, which I am now sharing for your amusement (but mostly for my amusement). I have never actually picked any of these up, so I don't know what they are about, in most cases, I think it's more fun to speculate.

Recent titles on the shelf, with commentary (not surprisingly, most of these have been on the shelf for quite a while):
Loving the Lone Wolf
The Millionaire's Baby
Having the Boss's Baby  (ewwwwww - should have stuck with the millionaire)
The Outlaw Bride
The Husband She Couldn't Remember  (Help! There's a strange man in my house!!)
Passion's Far Shore
Desert Devil
His Very Special Nurse
His Child or Hers (Huh?)
Conroy Could Love Only One Girl (At a Time)  (that Conroy, what a cad)
The Last First Kiss
Defiant Surrender
Head Over Spurs (about a clumsy cowboy?)
Do You Take This Cowboy? (maybe if it's Tony Romo - ahahahahaaha)
A Montana Maverick's Christmas
Married in Haste
Mistletoe Mischief
Bride of the Night (well, because she had to marry in haste)
Rancher's Request
Riley's Retribution
Midnight Stranger
My Wicked, Wicked Ways (I was so curious about this one, I actually took it off the shelf to examine it - turned out to be an autobiography of Errol Flynn)

I will continue this list as long as the titles continue to be this good.