Gothamist

A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.

Gothamist

WNYC Listen Live

Donate

 

 

Arts & Entertainment

Reading On The Subway? Careful, CoverSpy Is Watching


By

Garth Johnston

Published Jun 29, 2011

Modified Jun 29, 2011


Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail


Never miss a story

 Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Looks like a good book

 

nelly sight's flickr


By

Garth Johnston

Published Jun 29, 2011

Modified Jun 29, 2011


Share

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail


We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

One of the great pleasures of commuting on mass transit—as opposed to driving, walking or even, gasp, biking—is that it affords you time to do a little reading. Some read the paper, some read magazines, some read on their phones (we love you Instapaper!) and a massive amount of people read old fashioned books. And for that last group, CoverSpy is watching.

The gist of the Tumblr, which comes from the folks at Slice Magazine, is simple: They note the books people they see are reading, what those people are wearing and where what train they were riding. And boy do New Yorkers read a wide variety of books. CoverSpy has spied with its little eyes everything from The Fountainhead and Infinite Jest to The Dirty Divorce 2 and Falling For His Proper Mistress. And much more.

Meanwhile, this is totally why we've slowly been moving towards reading e-books. Harder for subway spies to know what we're reading! Not that they don't note Kindle readers, too. [via The Paris Review]

Tagged

books

coverspy

judge a book by its cover

MTA

reading

subway


Garth Johnston

Read more

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


MORE arts-entertainment

Owl pellets and period equity: What's happening at NYC's public libraries this November

Also: Books!

By

Alec Hamilton

Published Oct 29, 2026 at 4:00 a.m. ET


How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul

A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.

By

Hannah Frishberg

Arts & Entertainment

How the Village Halloween Parade keeps its soul

A visit to the community-driven pre-parade puppet preparations.

By

Hannah Frishberg


'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island

By

Sonia Rao

Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain

By

Sonia Rao

In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff

By

James Ramsay


Never miss a story

Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.

Sign upEmail address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .