Books, Books, and More Books

Today I was perusing some Internet sales for Mother's Day, when I saw an ad/deal for the Kindle II. It sounded magical- over 250,000 books at your disposal, just $9.99 each. Of course the newspaper and magazine subscriptions just sweetened the pot, making it sound divine.

Spencer quickly noticed that my attention was not on her and I forgot about the Kindle until this evening. I was looking at my book shelves and thinking to myself how much I love real, actual books. Old, new, used, written in- I love them all. I have well over 500, the majority of which don't fit on my shelves. When my mom used to drag me to the mall as a kid, my one condition for behaving was that she had to let me go to the book store. N-E-R-D.



During college, when everyone else would sell back their books to the school, I kept ALL of mine. Yep, sitting on my bookshelf, making me look all scholarly and such, are gems like Aristotle's The Politics. Mind you, I HATED political philosophy, but there was no way I wasn't going to keep the book that made me think waaaaay to much about "civilized pursuits," factions, and ethical democracy. Every time I see it I smile, thinking to myself, "ha, I got the best of you, Ari! You couldn't beat me!"


I am terrible at all things math related, but where reading is concerned, it's the opposite. It used to take me one day to finish a fun book and two days for a make-me-smarter one. Nowadays I'm lucky to read a book in 2-3 weeks. It's rare that I can just sit down and read with no interruptions. But it doesn't stop me from trying! My friends always make fun of my because I never go anywhere without a book- I actually used to walk to the bus stop reading!

As much as the Kindle would be a lovely luxury, there's something I love about going to the book store, buying an actual book, and reading it. I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I've finished one and then placing it on my shelf. One day I might be ready for the Kindle, it's just not today, or at least not until it's in the real of being affordable to me. But to give you some perspective, it took me until 2007 to get an iPod.