Books and Community

Most of you that know me know that I am an avid reader. (Yes the rumor that I read a cookbook as entertainment one summer break is true. I ran out of every other reading material in the house.) When Tom got his iPad for Father's Day I got one too. One of the first apps we installed was iBooks and then I installed Kindle for iPad. Many people have asked me how I like using an iPad for reading so here goes. I didn't know if I would love reading on it but I really do. I read some heafty novels and so it is much lighter then a 700 pg book. That is a definitely plus. I love reading in bed with it, where I do a majority of my reading. It's backlight makes it easy and once I figured out how to go back to a section it was nice and user friendly. It is easy to flip from book to book if you are that sort. (I am not. I tend to read fast enough to finish one book before starting on another.) It definitely has its drawbacks. The biggest is if I try to read while the girls are awake, they think they need to be playing the iPad instead of me reading. This makes me feel guilty for reading while I could be playing with them and so I tend to hand it over. I have not tried to read with it outside. It is too hot to spend time outside reading. I may try in the fall but definitely not anytime soon so I can't give my opinion on that.

I have been thinking about the whole eBook vs paper book debate so much this week because one of my favorite series "The Hunger Games" is releasing the third book in the Trilogy "Mockingjay" tonight at Midnight. There aren't any local midnight release parties that I am aware of, so that means no midnight paperbook. BUT no worries I can just download it at midnight right? Yep. And am I planning to? Yep. Nap today- Check. Cherry Coke with dinner- Check. But I have also lent out Hunger Games to several friends and got them interested in the series. Reading books together gives you a sense of community. It is great conversation and a common link where no link may have existed otherwise. I have always liked books for that reason. Well, with an eBook I won't have a copy to lend out so that we can chat later about it. Books bring people together. So my bottom line is, do I like eBooks? Absolutely, and I will keep buying them especially when I need a good read and Bookstores have already closed or I can't get out to buy a book. But I am not ready to give up my paper books altogether. I mean you can't read an iPad very well in the tub AND don't you sometimes just love the smell of paper?