Choosing the right reading material for a flight is an art. How I choose which books to bring has evolved since my first flight when I was eleven. I thought at that time (and for a while longer) that variety was important. I needed a book of poetry, a novel, a memoir, a quirky book, and a book on some aspect of history. And a few magazines. Fortunately variety is no longer one of my concerns.

Granted, the books I choose depend on the length of the flight. Most of my flights are from Florida to D.C. with a layover in Atlanta or (preferably) Charlotte. I now limit myself to bringing three books, though I try to stick with two: a slim book of nonfiction on something like publishing or editing or books, and a memoir or novel. For the return flight to Florida last night, I brought Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach and Enemies of Promise: Publishing, Perishing, and the Eclipse of Scholarship by Lindsay Waters. I was so into the first book that I didn’t read any of Enemies of Promise.

I always check out the readers around me on planes. I think most people don’t realize that carefully choosing a book leads to a better reading experience. On one flight from Atlanta to D.C., the gentleman sitting next to me cracked open a massive, 912-page book: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan by Edmund Morris. Ouch! One literally huge no-no is starting a 400-or-greater-page book on the plane. If there have been too many distractions to prevent you from starting that book during regular, non-flight hours, then you’re doomed. There are more distractions on planes because you’re likely to have a man perpetually clearing his throat sitting in front of you, a screaming baby across the aisle, and a woman behind you telling the person sitting next to her about how this great juice healed her Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. If you’re lucky, the person next to you might keep quiet, but it’s still difficult to be enveloped by a book from the very start, thereby preventing you from worthwhile reading. It’s important to bring a book that you’ve already started and can’t wait to pick up again. Such was the case with Shakespeare and Company. Though I began reading a page 1 on the plane, I had already read chunks of the book a couple of months ago and knew that I could get right into it. I brought Enemies of Promise with me just in case I wasn’t in a Shakespeare and Company mood during the flight. Even if you started reading whatever it is you choose before the flight, if it isn’t interesting during non-flight hours, it’s far less interesting at high altitudes. (I’m thinking specifically of one Antitrust textbook reader who once was seated next to me.)

To recap, my general rules for plane books are: don’t bring more than three books (but two is better), don’t bring a huge book, and don’t start a new book unless it’s undoubtedly, absolutely engrossing from the beginning. And, of course, I always have my Moleskine with me for note taking.