No writer owned the arena of toilet more than Henry Miller. He read truly great books on the lavatory, and maintained that some, "Ulysses" for instance, could not be appreciated anywhere else. The environment was one that enriched substantial works - extracted their flavour, as he put it - while lesser books and magazines suffered.
Miller went so far as to recommend toilets for individual authors. To enjoy Rabelais, he advised a plain country toilet, "a little outhouse in the corn patch, with a crescent sliver of light coming through the door". Better still, he said, take a friend along, to sit with you for half an hour of minor bliss. How he would've loved the "plain country toilet" in my little beach shack at Pallarenda - click here - which was always stacked with lots of books (although I drew the line at taking a friend along):
The "plain country toilet" in my little beach shack at Pallarenda
Henry Miller's book "The Books in my Life" contains his great "Reading In the Toilet" essay. I've got a battered old copy of it which I've read and re-read probably more times than any other book - on and off the toilet.
A word of warning: as Henry Miller writes, "... if you go to the toilet to eliminate the waste matter which has accumulated in your system, you are doing yourself a disservice by utilizing these precious moments in filling your mind with 'crap'". Read only something really worthwhile. I've just ordered his worthwhile "Tropic of Cancer" - the toilet-roll edition!
P.S. Reading on the toilet also changed my life - see here.
