Reading a newspaper signals harmless legitimacy in a train station but book-reading invites surveillance.

Evidence

After seven-thirty in the evening, in order to read a book in Grand Central or Penn Station, a person either has to wear hornrimmed glasses or look exceptionally prosperous. Anyone else is apt to come under surveillance. On the other hand, newspaper readers never seem to attract attention and even the seediest vagrant can sit in Grand Central all night without being molested if he continues to read a paper … — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 745

Categorization

• XREF: Concrete evidence of the props-by-which-strangers-signal-legitimacy that Lofland theorizes; newspaper as default disguise parallels how Julius in Cole’s novel reads urban codes to fade into the crowd but cannot sustain it.
• SHARE: The specific detail that book readers need horn-rimmed glasses or prosperity while newspaper readers pass freely is oddly specific and delightful.
• CANDY: Tiny fun fact: vagrants can sit all night in Grand Central reading a newspaper without being bothered, but book readers get surveilled.