--- title: Emma Watson Has Taken to Hiding Books in London's Tube description: The actress is squirreling away copies of her feminist book club's November read by Maya Angelou for anyone to find. canonical: https://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-02T16:38:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:18.238Z og:title: Emma Watson Has Taken to Hiding Free Books on Public Transit og:description: The actress dropped copies of her book club's new read around the underground. og:url: https://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d873d70428dac3a/6988acb6196cf44ad203dd1f/emma-watson.png?branch=production&width=534&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 534 og:image:height: 300 og:image:alt: emma-watson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emma Watson Has Taken to Hiding Free Books on Public Transit twitter:description: The actress dropped copies of her book club's new read around the underground. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d873d70428dac3a/6988acb6196cf44ad203dd1f/emma-watson.png?branch=production&width=534&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Emma Watson Has Taken to Hiding Free Books on Public Transit > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=cd6112fc-9bf7-4e7f-99d0-b415f354e996&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 2, 2016 4:38 PM UTC   by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Nov 2, 2016 4:38 PM UTC If you’re traveling by London tube, you might come across some hidden free book gems along the way: Emma Watson has been craftily placing [100 paperback copies](https://www.facebook.com/booksontheunderground/photos/a.458200797578081.110718.457808217617339/1275551525843000/?type=3) of beloved writer [Maya Angelou’s](http://time.com/123036/maya-angelou-a-hymn-to-human-endurance/?iid=sr-link1) _Mom & Me & Mom_ around the busy stations. The [_Beauty and the Beast_ actor](http://time.com/4344599/beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-walt-disney-company/?iid=sr-link1) and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador [heads up an open, feminist book club](http://time.com/4172664/join-emma-watsons-feminist-book-club/), called [“My Shared Shelf”](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179584-emma-s-book-club---our-shared-shelf)—and the Angelou autobiography is November’s read. To make it happen, Watson partnered with [Books on the Underground](https://twitter.com/BooksUndergrnd?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor), a “community project” that regular drops free books in unexpected spots around London’s tube network. On her Instagram, Watson cheekily shared her secretive antics as she deposited the copies throughout stations and in train cars. And for those not lucky enough to snag a free autobiographies in London, they can always get in on the action by picking up our own copy and joining the book club [conversation online. ](http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18297666-nov-dec-book-mom-me-mom-by-maya-angelou) Commuters have already started spotting and picking up the tomes, hidden in plain sight. They even get a handwritten note from Watson enclosed. As to why Watson chose this Angelou work, the seventh in her series of autobiographies? “Vivian Baxter \[Angelou’s mother\] cuts a fiercely unapologetic figure, imperfect but admirable, and we discover not just how she had a hand in Angelou’s evolution as a black woman but also in her feminist perspective, her independence and self-awareness, all of which contributed to her unique way of looking at the world and the way she expressed herself on the page,” she explained on [Our Shared Shelf’s site](http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18297666-nov-dec-book-mom-me-mom-by-maya-angelou), calling the book a “favorite.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/"},"headline":"Emma Watson Has Taken to Hiding Free Books on Public Transit","datePublished":"2016-11-02T16:38:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:18.238Z","description":"Keep an eye out","url":"https://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d873d70428dac3a/6988acb6196cf44ad203dd1f/emma-watson.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d873d70428dac3a/6988acb6196cf44ad203dd1f/emma-watson.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"emma-watson","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4554660/emma-watson-instagram-book-club/","name":"Emma Watson Has Taken to Hiding Free Books on Public Transit"}}]}] ```