I read a…..book?

According to family history my first sentence was:  I read a book.  I was in the bathtub holding a partially submerged Reader’s Digest when I made this declarative statement.

It was not only a childhood milestone, but greatly prophetic.  This is what I do.  I read books.  (Note the graphic I selected for this blogsite.)

Early in our marriage my husband sought out a bookstore to purchase a birthday present for me.  I was delighted with the book and asked him how he selected it.  He told me he went for the thickest book, so it would last longer.

We moved eight times in our first eight years of marriage, and my brother helped with almost every move.  In the midst of one move he looked at me from under a large box of books and said, “You people read too much.”  I learned to pack the books in smaller boxes.

My favorite thing to do with my kids was read to them.  We spent a lot of time reading.  A lot.  It is my favorite pastime.

I cannot afford to purchase every book I want to read, so I count on the Redford Library to provide most of my reading material.  If they don’t have it, they can get it from other libraries.  Isn’t that a great system?

A friend recently told me there is a publishing house that will send me a book, for free, if I agree to write a review after I have read it.

Really?  I love to read.  And I have lots of opinions about the books I read.  This is a match made in heaven.

I applied.  I was accepted.  I went to the website to select my first book.  That’s right, I get to choose what book I want to receive, read and review.

There was a long list, based on some interests that I noted:  fiction, children, etc.  Right away I saw about a dozen books that I would like to read.  How would I choose?  So many books, so little time…

That’s when it happened.

The bubble burst.  What seemed too good to be true, was too good to be true.

The list of books I was perusing was a list of eBooks.  These are books that are available electronically to people who own a reading tablet like a Kindle or Nook.

I scrolled down the page and found another list of books.  What shall we call them?  Non virtual books?  Actual books?  Paper books?  Old fashioned?  Antiques?  Endangered?

It was a very short list.  There were about eight books from which to choose.  None of my original selections appeared on this list.

Discouraged, I left the website with no book.

My firstborn came for a visit shortly after that and told me she was getting a Kindle for Christmas.  I had, in the recent past, spoken with disdain about these reading tablets.  I looked down my nose at electronic books.

Except now I had my nose pressed against the computer “window” looking at books that I wanted to read, that I could get for free, in the electronic format.

Bring on the rationalizations. Let’s see…

I will have lots of books to choose from if I have a reading tablet…

When I travel it will be much easier to carry a tablet in the place of the many books I take with me. I average about six per trip. With one being a Bible we’re talking about a hefty carry on bag…

My daughter is doing it, how bad can it be?

I went to the store to look at these tablets for electronic books.  They were okay.  There were more than I thought.  I thought there was only the Kindle and the Nook.  Turns out the market is a lot bigger.  I started playing with one from Sony.  It had a feature called “handwriting”.  I explored it.

This tablet lets you write notes and draw.  It comes with a stylus.  (This was important because those stupid touch screen gadgets don’t seem to register my fingers.  I have no idea why, but I am a non entity when it comes to touch screens.)

Well that was it.  The writing feature did it.  Next to reading my favorite activity is writing.  Yank the line to set the hook and reel her in, we’ve got her.

I don’t know if I will be able to make the transition from actual book to virtual book, but come Christmas I will begin to try.  Because under the tree will be a small box with a pretty red tablet inside it.

I better keep it away from the bathtub.

Categories: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

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2 thoughts on “I read a…..book?

  1. Jacqueline

    Superb. We have recently had conversation regarding books vs ‘kindles’. We like the feel of books and being able to turn pages and make notes on the pages. Yet, I see the advantages of a ‘kindle’ as well.
    Looking forward to reading your reviews 🙂

  2. glenn

    For some things, not all, its not so bad to keep with the flow – or at least consider it. For example, I’ve had this protest against the newer versions of Microsoft Office. I actually purchased the older 2003 version for 2 new computers vs. using the new v.2007 that comes for free. For some reason, the newer Offices put my favorite functions in different places vs. letting me group them in the workspace I’m in – which 2003 allows Except now I can’t function on computers other than my own – like at my jobs. How dumb is that to self-render myself irrelevant? (I still don’t understand the need to move my favorite “paste” button to a secret menu but, oh well. Excuse me now while I go find where they put it…….)

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