When I say "I love books" I mean...
Thursday, August 3, 2017 at 05:21AM One of the true joys of a vacation is filling some of the time one would have spent working reading for pleasure. On my biking trip last week to the Czech Republic, I managed to read four novels including those by some of my favorite authors - Daniel Silva, Micheal Connelly, John D. McDonald, and Lee Child. (For my qualities of a great recreational read see Top 10 Manly Contemporary Authors and Homage to Travis McGee.) One my travel rules* for myself and my family has always been "Have a book to read" since travel often consists of a lot of waiting.
For nearly 10 years, I have done most of my reading, especially vacation reading, on a Kindle. (I got my first Kindle June 24, 2008.) An ebook reader means you are in no danger whatsoever of running out of something to read. It is light but tough enough for a backpack or bike bag. Reading is not dependent on an external light source. The battery has a week-long or better lifespan. And when I can't find my reading glasses, I can always enlarge the font size. And I can brag that I carried over a dozen books to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
The print edition of Slovenly Peter my grandmother read to my siblings and me that still bears the crayon imprint of my little brother - along side its replacement?
Ebooks, online reading, and digital resources are not without their detractors. Libraries are still struggling to find a good way to provide ebooks to their patrons. Readers' ability to understand and retain what they have read when reading on the screen is debated by educators. Equity issues seem more pronounced with ebooks.
Yet I wonder still how much sentimentality is still at the root of the dislike of ebooks? I hope we remember...
While I am as sentimental as the next person about the associative memories particular books evoke, I like to believe it is really the excitement of the story, the perspective of the author, or the lyricism of the language to which I am reacting. I don’t remember the color of many book spines as a child. Future of Books, 1995
The future of reading, if reading has a future, I am convinced will be digital. And we as educators should be helping our students read digitally whether we ourselves prefer to or not.
* The other two rules are "Never bring more than you can carry" and "Never eat what you can't translate."
Reader Comments (2)
I went back and read your Travis McGee post. You and my husband have very similar tastes. McGee is his favorite. I wondered if you have read Brian Haig's "Sean Drummond Series" because my husband really enjoyed those too.
Thanks, Annette,
I've added a Sean Drummond to my Goodreads list of "want to reads!" Appreciate the recommendation.
Doug