To Kindle or not to Kindle...

The holidays are here. It is frantic time. Really no time to indulge in crazy activities like..... reading....! If Santa is making his list and checking it twice, I certainly should follow suit. Gifting, Carding, Baking - sprinkle in some thoughts as to what this season is really about and I am going to need at least 28 hours in the day to get it all done. So what does one do about seasonal stress? If you are anything like me, reading is usually the cure to all - but not now. When to read? Where to read? What to read? The pile on the bedside table is a monster, but those books generally do not make it out to the front of my house where my work bag sits. The book I was reading in the car seems to have made its way into a shopping bag that changed location to the hubbies car. Daughter's book Harry Potter #6 was left on my work desk, but although great a couple of years ago I am not ready for re-read 3. Picture books could be good in those few minutes between shopping and pick-ups at school, but they really should be returned to the library now, no really yesterday.... These are the (small) dilemmas of a 'I read to relieve stress junkie'.


Many friends, some colleagues, and patrons have urged me to get an e-reader. (Yes I can read on my I phone but geez - if I didn't need reading glasses yet I will now!) An e-reader will have what ever I have available when I want it. Some of the materials are even free through wonderful library sites like ListenUP! It is so $$ that I will take better care of it and never leave it anywhere but within immediate eyesight. I could be supporting authors who can only publish privately cheaper through this medium. I am sure there are many other reasons as to why people would tell me to ask Santa (nicely) for an e-reader, Kindle or any of its relatives. And yet...


There is something keeping me from joining the 21st century. It is not an aversion to technology. It is not the unwillingness to pay for electronics. It is not even the battle librarians and booksellers wage everyday to keep our (paper) businesses going. I think it may be nostalgia. Nostalgia?? Yes Nostalgia for something that is here but may be gone soon or at least be shelved high up and far in the back. I want to be able to turn the page! Physically turn the page, maybe even write my name on the first one, in ink! If a book has small pages, or wide ones, or impossibly thin ones - I want to be able to see that, to feel it, to 'experience' it. Part of what makes certain books so special is the way they were published, the way they looked, the things that caught your eye. No e-reader can reproduce that moment. And yes, I can hear you all yelling: not the cover that counts!! It's the content. Well yeah - you are right, but the content wouldn't have been perused so much had not the cover been inviting and calling my name... Not always, but sometimes. My love story with books embraces all: the cover, the story, the connections to the time and place read, the author. There is no way I can peruse my kindle and lovingly caress the well worn titles with my eyes and fingers. There is no way that the Sony or the Nook can be made into piles beside my bed. No smell, no visual, no love story.


Santa - maybe next year. For my real touchable scribbled whish list you can find my husband, you know who he is, and no - he will not be able to pull it up on his gmail account on his handheld. It will be the crumpled list on the back of a grocery receipt in his wallet.

Running Circles on the Treadmill?

Is it possible to run in circles on a treadmill? I believe it is. As most modern day fashion model lookalike wannabees, who are really working professionals moonlighting as parents - most of us would like to at least pretend to have some aspiration towards fitness. What does this have to do with libraries or possibly the written word, you ask? The answer is podcasts! I have recently been trying to get back on the treadmill - literally. Spring is almost here, the beach is calling my name (albeit at this moment a very faint call that is trying to be heard through the mounds of VT snow still covering the ground.)And so - Jane Fonda - eat your heart out - I am back! Carving out time for any selfish activity can seem insurmountable: in my case, this is time lost that should have been spent reading beginnings and ends of books, scanning reviews, or listening to a chapter or two of an audio book. This is what I do to keep up with the latest and greatest. This is what I do so that when Suzie Smith doesn't know what she wants or likes to read, I can run to just the right shelf and pick up that one page turner that has her name on it. So now, running, which I don't even like - has somehow become the 'guilty pleasure'. Not so sure about the pleasure part, but definitely guilty! Solution: Podcasts. I load my favorite literary podcasts, plug in the earphones, and set the pace... Sometimes I go a little wild and add in an NPR podcast about cooking, but hey - even those usually quote some published chef or foodie! So step after step, mile after mile, I listen, I absorb, and I get caught up in the world of publishing. In the words of James Brown ' I feel good!' Yup, burned some calories, knocked of some work at the same time, and made a list of new recommended books for on my night table. OK - so there's the proverbial wrench - MORE books for on my night table. More books next to the stove. More time to read I don't have, more pounds to shed due to indulging in the splendid non physical act of reading. I didn't have time to read for pleasure to start with, I can only spare time for the Rachel Rae 20 minute dinner. There is no more room for the stacks of books I really did think I had to read. I feel like I have come full circle: I am actually running in circles. I love to read, I became a librarian, I have to read, I don't have time to read (or run), I listen to shows about reading while running, I learn about more books I absolutely have to read - did I tell you I love to read, yes, that is why I became a librarian, and so... Well you get the picture. They tell me spring is almost here - and when it comes, I will start running outside. The treadmill will do service as a much needed bookshelf for all those great books my podcasts entice me 'check out'. And some day, I will figure out how to exercise and read, all without feeling guilt. Someday - until then, I'll keep running in circles .....

FAVORITE PODCASTS OF THE MOMENT: Books on the Nightstand and The Splendid Table.