The Death of Paper

So...last weekend/week my husband went to live in an ice cave. Seriously, he was in an ice cave.

But that isn't the point. The point is, I wanted to desperatly read a new book. So you say, Ireland, go to the library.

I can't. We don't actually have a library card because we never took the post card back to say YEAH WE LIVE HERE! And because when I went into the library, I didn't like it there. I am serious, I am very picky about what libraries I will use. I am a library brat. I think I only used the library in my home town because my mother made me.

But I'm not going to talk about libraries, or we'd be here forever. Like the time I talked about parking lots for two hours. BUT I WILL NOT DO THIS!

No, I want to talk about...eBooks.

I don't actually like books. I like READING. I like the art of creating WORDS ON PAPER. I like STORIES. But I hate the actual books. Why? Easy, they are cumbersome. Have you ever had to carry Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in your purse? Have you ever attempted to carry more than one book in your purse? That are hard cover? I have you ever packed a whole suitcase that was just full of books and then gotten yelled at because you had no socks? (This might have been toys and not books, but you get the point.)

When I worked, I always had a book with me. I turned myself into Rory Gilmore and ALWAYS had a book on me. And my shoulders hated me. I know, why didn't I carry paperbacks? I did. They still take up room. And they still weight a lot when you carry around three of them. During the time I spent with Conrad Black, I read A LOT OF BOOKS. People BROUGHT ME BOOKS TO READ. I am totally serious. And I still have them because the people who would give me books would VANISH randomly during the trial. So, then I'd have a backpack of of paperbacks.

It was also at this time, I began to realize it kind of sucked trying to eat and read at the same time in a chair. (I never sat at the table. I had two chairs I used. It was MY DOMAIN, the Reader in the Corner who Never Talked.) Reading on the train also kind of sucked, as it was hard to keep the pages flat while trying not to touch the person next to me.

I began reading at lunch in high school when I was a ball of nerves and could not EAT in a room of peers. So my mom suggested I read jokes in Reader's Digest. We had spent the summer cleaning out my Grandma D's things and had an a collection of RD's. So they were in my lunch box and I was the weird girl reading during lunch. BUT IT HELPED. But, it did make it hard to eat.

So, back to where I started. eBooks.

I didn't get eBooks when they first appeared. I was like, "WFT? Another device I have to buy? Lame."
I didn't buy straight eBooks because I like to read all over the place. So, one day, I was watching TV and there was a Kindle add for the Kindle app. It moves between devices or something and I was like, "Interesting." I had been getting "free" books off of iBooks to read during times I wait for things (like the two hour oil change. I MADE myself read The Wizard of Oz.) So, I sat on my couch, picked up my iPhone and found the kindle app. I told myself if it was free, I'd get it.

It was free.

Then I went into the Kindle Store and found a few Maureen Johnson books I had wanted to read (they weren't at Target, where I buy most of my books because Target owns my soul). I hit the little download button.

Seven days later I was like "OMG THIS IS AMAZING."

Why?

I will list it for you.

1. I always have at least five books with me at all times.
2. I can read anywhere, in any position and the pages don't move unless I want them to be moved.
3. I can READ AT THE GYM. It is the most amazing thing in the world to make time go by quickly. It'd go better if I had a bigger screen than my iPhone, but STILL!
4. I can get a book at any time without leaving my house (as long as I have access to Wi-Fi.)
5. My shoulder no longer aches from toting around books. I always have my iPhone and it doesn't weigh as much as book.

There. Five reasons why I like eBooks.

I know eBooks do not smell. I know they aren't "books" and the experience in reading them is somehow "different." But, I was never super attached to the actual "book." I never did like book stores. They freaked me out. Too much in one small space. I remember being BORED out of my mind when my friends would go into used book stores in Madison. I would feel like I was wasting away into nothingness. It was like, TOO MANY BOOKS, BRAIN EXPLODE.

I am horrible, I do not care. I like reading on my iPhone. To me, there is nothing different than reading a book on my iPhone than reading an actual book. Also, after I read the book on my iPhone, I don't need to find another book shelf to put the book on. I only have two bookshelves and they are both full. So, in reality, I can't really get any more books. Unless Pilot Boy makes me another bookcase. It took me four years to get the first one.