The Reader

Every day I take the train to Amsterdam to my publishing house, which gives me an hour to read. Train seats are excellent for letting go of your surroundings and getting lost in a story. I love this daily escape from reality.

When I walk into my train compartment, I see the same faces every day. Most of my fellow-passengers seem to read as well. Before getting on the train they have grabbed a newspaper, or they have brought a book along. This I understand: it is an excellent  way of escaping the obligatory small talk on an early Monday morning. In spite of the ever-growing popularity of e-books and e-readers, the Dutch commuter as of yet seems to prefer the old-fashioned book

During the first years of working at a publishing house, I was immensely curious about what other people where reading exactly. I used to check them all out, looking for ´our´ books, but soon learned to control this urge, when I noticed my staring made my fellow-passengers somewhat nervous.

But sometimes everything falls magically into place. Last Monday, on my way back from work, I looked up from my book to see where we were. That´s when I saw her. A beautiful girl, with curly red hair, freckles on a fair skin and big blue eyes. She was in the seat opposite of mine. And the best of it all: she was completely lost in the latest novel of our leading Dutch author. I noticed she was about half-way through the mid-price edition, the one with which we had made for exactly these readers, the young adults to be precise. And successfully: this book remains one of our best-selling titles. I could not control myself, leaned over and tapped her on her knee. ´How do you like the book,´ I asked her. After a surprised look from her I quickly explained my interest. ´My mother read it and liked it so much that she got me this copy´, the girl answered, still a little confused by my directness. ´At first this put me off, I mean, who wants to read a book their mother liked. But now I can´t seem to put it down. It´s a very gripping story form page one and I would recommend it to anyone.´

The rest of the compartment had already lost interest. And that´s alright. I know that this moment is lost to the rest of the world. But not to me, I saw it and took notice. Here she was, our reader. The reader for which the author writes, for which the editors, production, promotion, sales and rights departments work. This is for whom we all work so hard.For a second a bleak early March-sun was enough to warm me.