Bathroom Reading

Do you have a book (or magazine) that you like reading while "sitting on the throne," as my grandmother used to call it?

My partner and I gave up any pretense that we didn't read while sitting, and simply installed a bookshelf right next to the toilet. Appropriately, we populate it with a lot of pulps. We have a number of the Edgar Rice Burrough's TARZAN and JOHN CARTER OF MARS series, as well as vintage Verne VILLAGE IN THE TREE TOPS and THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, etc. Shawn, my partner, is also fond of old mysteries so we have Ellory Queen and even some Ian Flemming Bond books.

But we have some other stuff too. Like a lot of writers, I'm fascinated by words and the origin of words. One of the books I've been picking up in the bathroom is Red Herrings & White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day by Albert Jack. I think we picked it up either at HalfPrice Books or a rummage sale, but I have to say: it's a fun book for light, quick reading. I can read about a phrase or two in the amount of time I usually spend... uh, sitting, and it's just cool.

Like, did you know that the phrase "to play fast and loose" is a reference to an actual game -- a gambling game played in Europe? Yeah. I had no idea.

So what did you learn today (on or off the toilet)?