I have exit books. It’s a brand new category here at Bookwitch Towers. I’m feeling smug – again, so this won’t end well – and I believe I’ve solved one little problem.
It’s both enjoyable and necessary for me to read when waiting for the local train or in the doctor’s waiting room or anywhere similar. The sort of place where even five minutes can feel bad, and where you may end up with rather longer than that, due to circumstances beyond your control.
The reading material mustn’t be too intellectually taxing, and it’s easiest if the book isn’t too large. Until now I’ve often picked a different book to take to the GP’s surgery, for instance, than the one I’m currently reading. That takes time when leaving the house, and sometimes I struggle to find one that will suit.
So the other day I bundled a selection of small and lightish books together and put them next to the extremely dusty fake pot plant on top of the Encyclopaedia Britannica by the front door. The idea is that I can just grab one as I fly past. (Broomstick, you know.) They are the exact opposite of what you want for other travelling reads, where you worry that you’ll run out on the train or the plane.
Some of the books I put by the door are from the next batch of Lucy Coats’s Greek Beasts and Heroes. Books five to eight (sorry if that sounds like the time of day) have just appeared, and as I began reading the fifth volume it dawned on me how perfect it is both in size and content for reading while on the run. So I’ll be running with Lucy, whenever I can.
For people who actually read children’s books to actual children (I daresay such readers exist) I feel Greek Beasts and Heroes will also be perfect to take on a journey. Or to some waiting room. Lovely stories, and short.
We’ll always need long satisfying books. But short satisfying books are just as – ahem – satisfying.
The Occasional Bookwitch 
Bitesized myths for busy witches! Delighted that I shall be keeping you company on your broomstick wherever you fly. See–I knew I could lure you into the mythosphere!
Lucy at http://scribblecitycentral.blogspot.com
OMG (as daughter would kill me for presuming to say) I have exactly the same thing. They tend to be books I have to read but haven’t got round to, and usually a bus ride is long enough to know whether I want to finish it or not. The only problem is, I find them months later in pockets and bags I haven’t used since.
If the coat feels impossibly heavy, you just empty out all the surplus books. I trust that if it’s a very promising book you’ll actually remember to take it out?
Only if I can find it.