Saturday, August 6, 2011

Reading: the right to do so wherever and however

The thing about e-reading is that you don’t get the feel of cover, the smell of the pages.. the nostalgia of curling up with a good book beside a fireplace while it storms a winter snow outside.

The reality of my life is that I don’t have time to curl up by the fire and sip cocoa while I shut off the world and lose myself in a book. I did when I was 19, but I also had very little responsibilities. I now work full time. I attend Saint Leo University full time. I am a single mom of two. I run errands. I cook dinner. I am also a taxi. I am blessed that my daughter does dishes and my son helps with laundry. But I also try to spend some quality time with my kids, even if it’s not as much as some say I should.

So where do I have time to read? Where do I have time to pull a book off a shelf, lower the lights, pour some wine, turn Mozart on low, and forget the world?  I don’t.

What I DO have time for is reading on the fly. Waiting for my child in the dentist waiting room I can pull out my cell phone and use my Nook app. Boom, 20 pages later we leave the dentist go to the next destination. At my sister’s house, her husband calls her and wants to chat from work. I whip out my e-reader and score several pages before I have her attention again. The pharmacy forgot to have my prescription ready – I sit in the chairs and find 11 pages gone before they call my name. I’m about to pass out when I finally get to bed. I cram 10 pages in my head before falling asleep reading. In the old days I scrambled through the paper book to see where I might have left off. My electronic reader bookmarks for me. All is well.

So whereas I still love hard bound books, and I still dream of having a massive library in my house some day when I have one big enough, I also live in the real world. So many people are living in the romantic ideas of hard books that they shun those of us trying to scramble for time to read whenever and wherever we can. Isn’t the entire point of reading – to read? Why does it matter if my book is hardbound, paperback, or even an e-book? I. Am. Reading. I have every right to get lost in a story as you do even though I can’t always lug around a hardcover just incase I can squeeze in 10 minutes to read. I would rather read on my e-reader than never have time and opportunity to sit with the traditional books. Do not judge me. I am a story lover just like you. I deserve your support as a fellow reader – not your attitude because you’re a paper snob. 

2 comments:

  1. I prefer paper books (who doesn't), but really, sometimes the e-reader is the best option. Like you said, reading on the fly is sometimes all we get when we're adults. So take it as it comes. Any reading is better than no reading, no matter the medium being used.

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  2. Exactly! It isn't that I hate paper books, but I live in a real world. I have read soooo much more since having an e-reader.

    I mean, running through the mountains or on a treadmill is still running - right?

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