or train, plane or couch.
Most programming books are quite thick and require you to sit at a computer while you read it.
Some of the thinner ones, like "Efficient C++" for example, are much better written and you can read them on the couch.
I am looking for books like that on recent ASP.NET technologies.
One example (though not really really excellent) is "Real World ASP.NET Best Practices", though it is based on 2003.
I don't know about asp.net but I ordered a couple of books on mvc. :) Problem is that I would need at least pen and paper to write down crazy ideas I get. Currently I am reading "More Effective C#" and it really reads like a book. It's like reading some great fantasy series!
Essential .NET, Volume I: The Common Language Runtime (Don Box)
It's more about how the CLR works and you won't really need to know much of it for your daily work, but it's fascinating nonetheless.
I read Essential ASP.NET 2.0 (Paperback) on vacation a couple of years ago at the beach. I am intending to take Profesional ASP.NET MVC on my vacation end of the month. this time it should be better because I am packing a netbook that I loaded with the web platform installer so that I can tinker with any of the sample code that I want.