Europe, what are you reading? My fellow train passengers respond

Earlier this winter, I traveled by train in Germany, Italy, and Austria. I was struck by how many passengers were enjoying books – not books on cellphones or Kindles, but real paper-and-ink books.

We hear a lot nowadays about how the internet is destroying the life of the mind. It may be true somewhere – but not on these trains. Using my journalistic background as an excuse, I approached some of these readers about their books. Here are some of the exchanges that