Thursday, September 13, 2012

Kindling Ideas

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Kindles, & books, and how so many of my memories are tied up in reading books, sitting in bookstores, and libraries, and how I feel like nothing could replace the feel, touch, and sight of a book.

Then I moved. A long way. With a lot of things and animals. I purged my bookshelves. Ok, maybe purge is too strong of a word. But I went through all of my books, including those which had been sealed in boxes in the garage for 5 years. I hemmed and I hawed, and I set rules. To the Goodwill went:

Any book I didn't like (yes, I normally would keep those, just cause)

Any book I hated the author of.

Any book based in Minnesota (just on principle)

Most paperback books.

Any book that I had gotten on sale but had never read, and most likely never would read. Except for those that I SHOULD read, and would read someday because I SHOULD (Example: The Plague Dogs.)

This still left me with an insane amount of books, but a more reasonable library.

98% of these are in boxes still. They're waiting till we finish the boathouse to nestle into new shelves out there. These were also practically the first things I packed. It was a huge job, I started early to get it out of the way. So most of these books I am going on 8 months of not seeing.

In the past 8 months, I have been reading on my phone. My phone, I can download onto using the Kindle app. Somewhere along the way, I started downloading classics, all of the sudden I could take Anne of Green Gables with me everywhere. I could slip into Avonlea while I waited for the kids, or into Windy Poplars while I sat at an appointment. I realized too, that it was a great opportunity to download and read some other classics I had always put off. The best part, is that most are free or very low cost.

That brings me to today. What are my real feelings on Kindles and e-readers. I'm not getting rid of all my books, but instead of being evil, are they in some ways a good extension of the library? Something we can take with us, something we can use to access those classics? I'm not sure. In the past week I've downloaded Albert Payson Terhune novels, Anna Karenina (never read that one before) and realized that Jim Kjeldegarde's books are on Kindles.

I am not ready to go buy a Kindle yet, but my mind is adjusting. Slowly. And I did manage to avoid the book sale the other weekend, though I keep wondering if I could find a used copy of Anna Karenina somewhere with personality... You know, for the boat house library..


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