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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My E-Reader

I got an e-reader for Christmas. I love it - it's awesome. We went out of town for New Year's weekend and before we left, I cashed in a gift certificate and downloaded a small library of books so that I'd have something to read while up North, far removed from all civilization. I chose a few random and unfamiliar books for myself and a few kids books that I knew Gavin would love. I didn't have time to browse everything that was available, so to be quite honest, I sorted by price and picked a few that were inexpensive and looked interesting - just to try it out. The kids books are gorgeous, with vivid color illustrations and many of them have a "read to me" feature, so the child can have the book read aloud to them if you're in the middle of something else and can't read it (like driving the car on a rainy 5 hour trip up north). I've only read one of the grown up books that I bought and it was, well, as I discovered, very grown up. One of the books I downloaded sounded interesting and slightly provocative, very different from what I usually read, but it sounded fun. Well, it turned out to be all that and then some. I can surely say that it caught my attention!

One awesome thing I figured out about the e-reader is that I can read in bed with out bothering my bedmate - there is no need to have a lamp on, there is no "svwoot, svwoot" of the pages as you turn them, and you don't have to figure out how to hold the book open with one hand while you lie on your side to read. It is only one sided, so there is no holding it open.  

The terrible thing I figured out about the e-reader is that I can read in bed with out bothering my bedmate - there is no need to have a lamp on, there is no "svwoot, svwoot" of the pages as you turn them, and you don't have to figure out how to hold the book open with one hand while you lie on your side to read. It is only one sided, so there is no holding it open. This is a very. bad. thing. Which I only realized at 1:08 this morning as I read the very last line on the very last page of the book I had been reading and turned the e-reader off. As I took one final glance at the clock at 1:12 AM, I whispered to myself under my breath, "1:12 - I have four and a half hours. This is a very bad thing." and I closed my eyes and was sleeping in less than a minute I'm sure.

I started that book on Thursday. On Friday, the day was busy with 10 people plus two kids in a cabin, snowmobiling, cooking, playing Cribbage and Dominoes, and visiting. Not too much reading. Saturday, the battery on my e-reader died and I discovered that the charger I had packed along didn't work. So, I didn't get to read again until last night, when we were home and the battery was charged. The book wasn't all that long... 208 pages I think. I read an entire book in a weekend. I don't know when that last happened. Years ago, I am sure. In fact, I can't remember the last time I finished reading a book at all. Oh, yes I do. I read the book "Olive Kitteridge" earlier this year. I finished it. It took me... four months maybe?

It's been ages since I read a grown up book that had a happy ending. It seems that all of the books I've read in the last three years have been slightly depressing and certainly not happy. This happy ending was welcome and refreshing. Now, I want to read another book. I think I'll wait a day or so though. Need to catch up on some sleep!     

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