I bought a Nook for my birthday. I deliberated long & hard between the Nook and the Kindle, finally going with the Nook because I’ll be able to borrow e-books from public libraries with it. But why buy an e-reader at all? Here’s why:
I’ve literally run out of shelf space for new acquisitions. A couple of years ago I purged almost all my paperbacks and college textbooks, saving only those hardbound books I absolutely had to keep. Now I’m going to have to start purging those. An impartial observer might say “buy another bookcase,” but in the spirit of marital harmony I’ve ruled out that option . . . we already have six full bookcases, and a less impartial observer (like my wife) might say “Jesus H. Christ already.”
And of course when I visited friends on my motorcycle trip a few weeks ago, they loaded me down with more books. But the trigger was my goddaughter Natasha giving me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday, a card I knew right away I’d have to use to buy the latest Elmore Leonard novel. While at B&N to buy that book I saw two more I had to have: a new Martin Cruz Smith and a new John le Carré. When your bookcases are full you can find a way to squeeze in one more book, but three? That’s it, I thought . . . time for an e-reader!
And here I am, a fresh convert to e-reading. So far I’ve downloaded the Martin Cruz Smith and John le Carré novels, and begun reading the copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that was pre-loaded on the Nook. I think e-reading, which I resisted for some time, will turn out to be a good thing . . . like every other modern innovation I’ve struggled against.
In other birthday news, our friend Mary Anne hosted a birthday dinner Saturday night for me and our mutual friend Rudy, whose birthday is in early November. Here we are at Mary Anne’s repast:
Last night several friends dropped by the house, some for dinner and some just to visit. Some youngsters came as well, begging for candy at our front door (we had more trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood this year than on any of the other 11 Halloweens we’ve lived in this house). Oh, and you’ll never guess what our friends Sue and Frank bought me for my birthday. More books!
I’ve been so busy this weekend I forgot all about Tuesday’s mid-term elections. That was nice . . . really nice!