If you follow me on Twitter then you may know that I’ve started a little experiment. Over the Summer, weather permitting, I’m taking my reading to my front steps. I live in a pretty, old residential neighborhood. Sidewalks, tree-lined streets, well kept front yards – in the Summer it’s not quite Norman Rockwell, but it’s pretty darn close. With one exception. Washington Street is a ghost town.
That might be a slight exaggeration. People walk their dogs, there’s the occasional yard sale and you do see people mowing their lawns. There’s a small orthodox Jewish community and I always like seeing the families walking to synagogue on Saturdays. But you don’t see the neighbors standing around talking. Or sitting out with a drink and enjoying the evening breeze. No one really uses their front yards. They just maintain them. It’s weird.
My family is included in that weirdness. Our garage is in an alley behind the house, so other than taking our dogs for a walk we barely use our front door. We know a few of our neighbors, particularly the one family immediately next door. Still, I thought it would be interesting to try something a little different.
So far I’ve gotten some curious looks. My neighbors across the street (who I know enough to exchange waves and gossip a few times a year) waved to me as they got home from grocery shopping. I had to apologize to Mike next door because my two dogs, guarding me vigilantly from behind the storm door against possible squirrel attacks, went crazy when he took his dog Molly out for a walk. I glanced up between pages and saw a cardinal. Then a rabbit. Neither expressed any interest in what I was reading, but that was probably for the best. How would I explain Roger Casement’s work exposing the atrocities committed in the Congo and Peru to a cardinal? It might have put him off his worm.
I wouldn’t exactly call this a challenge – but if anyone would like to join in on the experiment you can post your findings / or a link to your own post in the comments section. Or, if you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #stoopbks
READER AT LARGE 
This is such a nice idea. If I had a front porch, maybe. Then again: mosquitoes…
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Yes, mosquitoes are becoming an issue… I seem to have tasty ankles. 🙂
I probably should explain in my next post that my “porch” is really just two steps up and a landing.
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I love reading on my front porch! I can’t do it for very long where I live because it gets so miserable. I do have a sunporch, though, right inside my living room. About a month ago, I moved my sofa in there, and it’s been amazing. I read in there with the blinds open and the palm tree swishing outside my window. I feel like I’m in Key West or some such place.
Enjoy your stoop reading!
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So you have a full front porch Jenn – very nice! I have a sun room in the back I enjoy in the Spring & Fall (and sunny winter days), but right now it’s unbearable. Reading in the sun, though… it doesn’t get much better than that.
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Love this and enjoyed my first foray out to #stoopbks myself. I met some neighbours who were having a yardsale across the street, actually!
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Nice Amy! I’ve discovered that a lot of people jog through my neighborhood.
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I also love this idea! In my new neighborhood people DO tend to stand around outside and talk a lot (or park their cars on the street and talk through the windows) and I’ll admit it freaked me out for a while. Nobody did that in my neighborhood in Albuquerque! But I like the idea of using what little yard we have to relax and read a book. (Although now that I think about it, I wonder if I could actually FIT a chair or blanket or something in our yard. Uh.)
(Possibly the internet ate my comment as well, so if this is a duplicate I also apologize!)
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Hi Anastasia –
Sorry about the comment issues. For some reason it put you and Amy into moderation, which it’s not supposed to do unless you’re new to the site. I think it’s fixed now *crosses fingers*.
You know what I’m finding really interesting about this whole #stoopbks reading – it has a whole anthropological side that I hadn’t expected. For example, the dynamics of the neighborhood I hadn’t expected. Joggers, dog walkers, people working on their yard, people not working on their yard, neighbors gossiping… for a street that I thought of as a ghost town there is a lot happening in passing.
Thanks for taking part!
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