When I was younger, I read everywhere, just like you, on the train, on park benches, once even in the little night bar around the corner from me, where there was always a Velvet night on Wednesdays and a DJ played music. Another guest asked me irritably why I was sitting at the bar with a book. I don't remember the answer I gave, probably because I couldn't part with the book but liked to read among people in case you got into conversation. Maybe I just wanted to make myself special. LOL

I read for hours and hours, through whole nights. On my bed, by a night lamp and in the worst crowds in public places. I didn't care, I could concentrate anywhere. My husband thinks I have a particular autism in this respect, confirmed by former work colleagues who told me they themselves had difficulty focusing like this. It is, of course, a form of blocking out the reality around you. A refuge that can be taken anywhere at any time.

A book is worth reading if the plot surprises, irritates or keeps me in suspense. I used to read much more light literature than I do today. Some books I bought or received decades ago I reread and find something completely different than I did then. Some things that used to thrill me now seem trivial or a waste of time. I once felt this way about a man I met in my twenties and for whom I was very fond. When I met him again about ten years later, I wondered where my fascination with him had gone and realised that I had fallen in love with a fantasy.

Today I read mostly in the early morning, back then in the evening. It changes. Overall, my book consumption has drastically reduced due to several factors, one of which is that my eyesight is limited and I can no longer feel the pleasure without good daylight as I once did. Then I could read even by candlelight.

Book recommendations:

• The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain
• Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
• And then there were None by Eric Frank Russel- highly recommended! :)
• All books by Heinz von Förster
• Books by Alan Watts
• Paul Watzlawik
• Ursula K. Le Guin

I could list more, but leave it here.

Is it that your work is not been done by you any more? That sounds like a pity, for it seems very fitting for you.