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#WaterstonesTexan David Willis Could Have Read These While He Was Locked In Book Store

How #WaterstonesTexan Should Have Spent His Two Hours Trapped...
Jessica Elgot
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Cavan Images via Getty Images

Mystery still surrounds the two hours that Texan tourist David Willis spent locked in Waterstones in Trafalgar Square.

Though we know that the tweeter was "pleased to be free", we don't know the most important thing - what did he read? Or did he just build a fort?

Willis was in fact only locked in the cavern of wonder for just under two hours, leaving him limited reading options. So with that in mind, here's what we think he should have tucked into:

#WaterstonesTexan Gets Stuck Inside Trafalgar Square Bookstore, Creates Twitter Storm

Read our suggestions, vote in our poll, and tell us what you would have read in the comments below.

What Should #Waterstonestexan have read?
Animal Farm by George Orwell (01 of08)
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One of the most poignant allegories ever written is a tidy 150 pages long, easily do-able in two hours. And perhaps a reminder to #WaterstonesTexan of the consequences of letting his new found power go to his head. (credit:jovike/Flickr)
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway(02 of08)
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What other Pulitzer Prize-winner could be read in under two hours? Hemingway's final masterpiece, a mediation on what it means to struggle, to survive and to keep your honour would be a fine way to spend the lonely hours waiting for the locksmith.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes(03 of08)
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Barnes' masterful fictional memoir is a meditation on loneliness and death. Bit bleak for a night in Waterstones, but it's less than 150 pages so Willis would have had time to read it, and have a bit of a weep afterwards. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Poetry Please, chosen by Roger McGough(04 of08)
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The nation's favourite poetry collection based on the Radio 4 show is an ideal choice for Willis to have dipped into - he's unlikely to have been dragged from the story screaming 'just one more page!' if he stuck to poetry. Featuring Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dylan Thomas, Seamus Heaney, William Wordsworth...
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon(05 of08)
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This novella chronicles the hapless Oedipa Maas who finds herself involved in a dense conspiracy to take over the postal service. Is it postmodern, or is it a satire on postmodernism? Willis would have time to read it twice and try and figure it out. (credit:Jim Barker/Flickr)
The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith(06 of08)
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Smith's first foray in short fiction writing, she's an American-based author with her roots firmly in London (perfect for our Transatlantic travelling tourist). The Embassy of Cambodia is her new novella, recommended to Willis by Watterstones (!!)
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie(07 of08)
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It's fast, furious and searingly relevant and you look seriously impressive when the police rescuers happen upon you reading it.
Lock Picking: The Basics(08 of08)
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If he's a practically minded chap, perhaps this will be the best way to go.
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