It makes me really happy when I see people reading books. I mean actual paperback or hardcover, large print or small print, keep-turning-the-actual-page-of-paper rather than click-the-button-that-simulates-the-idea-of-turning-an-actual-paper-page. In this world of iPads, e-readers, nooks, kindles, mp3 players, smart phones and flip cams, I do enjoy the smell and touch of holding a good old book.
Please, don't ever think about buying me an e-reader of any kind. My dad offered to get me one as a graduation gift last year and in my head I was yelling, "Nooooooooo!!" in those super manly and deep, slow motion movie kind of ways. It is not necessary and not desired. The covers of books open the doors that let my heart in to a whole new world where it can make its home in the spine of the book, and e-readers simply don't have spines to do that.
I'm currently reading, The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins. It's a book that's about two inches thick. Most e-reader owners would argue, "You see, you can buy or borrow an e-book and you wouldn't have to carry so much weight!" But I don't really care. I love the weight. I love the scratchy sound the pages make when I turn them. I like that it's fat. I like fat books.
E-reader owners may also argue, "But with an e-reader, you can also carry lots of e-books without carrying around tons of weight." Sorry, but I'm one of those human beings that can't literally read two books at once. When I sit down to read, it's only possible for me to read one page at a time. And yes, I guess I understand that if you want to put one book down and continue another to "read at the same time," I used to do that a lot when I was younger. Some parts of one book would be slow or too heavy so I'd want to take a break and read a lighter, more engaging book. But again, I'd pack maybe one or two books with me. I wouldn't need a hundred books to choose from. If I read a hundred books at the same time I'd never finish one. Sometimes we just need to pick a book and stick to it. Do you think our inherent "need" to get a taste of many different books in one sitting says something about our society's issues with commitment?
I've been traveling a lot over this year, and it's amusing to find that most of the weight of my bags usually comes from the number of books I bring with me. And though I'd like to bring just one or two, I'm usually at a point where I'm close to finishing one and would want to start another and may also finish that one so I'd want to have maybe one more, just in case. Obviously because it was better to have an extra book that I didn't get around to rather than finish two books and have none to start. Of course it's a little frustrating - I don't like carrying a lot of heavy stuff - but I totally think having real books is worth it.
Nathan often does the same thing - except he often packs way more books than me because he's a super fast reader and I'm super slow, so he'll knock out books at a faster turnover rate, which means he needs to carry more books. But I think it's funny how we both do that. I half-joked and told him once that when we have kids and they're old enough to read and we need to travel somewhere, we'll probably always need to pack a separate luggage solely for the purpose of holding all of our family members' books. Good luck to the family member that has to carry that bag.
I could go on and on about books. But I will pause here and take a breath. I only wanted to say how happy it makes me when I see people read real books because I don't see it as often anymore. I did see a guy reading an actual book on the subway the other day, though, which is what inspired this post in the first place.
Please, go read books if you can. There's something for everyone, whether you're a big reader or not. They're great. Go to a library or a bookstore and just read something.
Oh goodness, don't get me started on libraries and bookstores.
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