Imagine my delight when the hollyhock that I thought was done for the season produced a surprise flower! Fall often brings little surprises like that. There’s a single balloon flower that just opened up over in the memorial garden.
We got back on track this morning and took a walk. It’s cooler today, thank goodness. A number of trees that have turned color in the past week and I see golds and reds scattered among the the trees that are still green. It’s rather lovely.
On the 22nd, we raised a glass to Don’s father, Lee, on what would have been his 100th birthday. And on the 28th, my dad would be celebrating his 96th birthday. We miss our dads so much – it never goes away.
Other than that, after Don’s very busy weekend and my semi-busy weekend, we enjoyed a day yesterday of just hanging around at home (after buying groceries for the week.) Don practiced his guitar and read, we did some laundry, I read…it was lovely.
I’m about 150 pages from the end of I am Pilgrim. It’s 607 pages long and it’s riveting – a spy thriller for the new millenium. Some spy novels can be rather dry, but Terry Hayes is a wonderful writer and his writing is anything but dry. I recommend it highly.
Here’s my story about this novel: It was originally published in 2014. I had just received my Kindle and it was one of the first books I downloaded because I’d read such great things about it. But I never got to it. Those were the years where I was reading a lot of books for review and it never made it to the top of the list despite my best intentions. About 2 years ago, I was in McNally Jackson – a great bookstore in NYC – and I saw that it had come out in paperback. Still feeling some regret that I hadn’t managed to read it yet, I figured that having the physical book in hand might spur me on. It still took 2 years to get to it, but there’s a truth in there. I don’t turn on my Kindle – I’m not even sure where it is in the house – and I rarely use the Kindle app on my iPad. The last time I used it was when we traveled to Europe last year and that was simply for the convenience of packing/flying. To me, there is no comparison to the reading experience that I have with a physical book in my hands. None.
That being said, I certainly acknowledge the convenience of eBooks and the ability to change font size and have all your books on one device. No judgments here. I’m just saying that for me, the actual book is everything. The smell of the paper, the look of the page, the dust cover/cover – all of it makes me swoon a little. Of course, I, like most people, run out of shelf space, but I’d much rather have the problem of having too many books than not enough. And, as you know, I periodically go through my books and donate those I feel somewhat neutral about to my local library. It’s a win-win.
And, thankfully for books and bookstores, all the predictions about eReaders eventually taking over, leading to the demise of books and bookstores have been proven wrong. If anything, physical books are more popular than ever. Isn’t that nice?
So you see, I am Pilgrim has been a part of my book consciousness since it was first published. And I’m finally reading it. Maybe it was a good thing to have this delayed pleasure? It certainly is leading me to look again at the unread books on my shelves and to remedy that situation.
Happy Tuesday.
I prefer a physical book too. There is something comforting about it. I have tried audiobooks. I never get past the first chapter. For one thing, I tend to fall asleep. I think it is going to have to be when we replace our car with a new “used” one that has a CD player. Then I will be held captive while we are driving somewhere. I need to share this with you. I was reading “Legacy of the Dead” by Charles Todd. In the book a room was describe which seems perfect for us bookaholics. ——Rutledge walked into a paneled room filled with books, floor-to-ceiling shelves, volume after volume spilling over onto chairs and tables and every other flat surface, even jostling for space on the windowsills and cluttering the beautiful old carpet on the floor. —end of paragraph. I rather have too many books than not enough. Especially if winters are hard. My dad’s birthday is this month too. His is on the 29th. He would have been 75. And my dad’s first name is also Don.
Love that description, Trina!
I’m not at all into audio books. I don’t want someone else’s voice in my head. I want my imagination to be unfettered and it wouldn’t be if I was listening to someone else’s interpretation of the text.
I love a physical book. The smell and feel of the paper isn’t anything like the the hard plastic of my Kindle. However, I can’t buy a fairly new physical book for under $10 , which is often what I pay. Or read it for free with Kindle Unlimited. I especially like my Kindle when I go visiting. I don’t have to decide which book(s) to bring. Like you when you went to Europe. I might be weird, but if I read a book on Kindle that I truly, truly love I will turn around and buy a physical copy. I mean really it has to be on my shelf.
And in order to keep this reply to your post from getting outlandishly long I won’t go into my love of old books. Even those I know I will never read.
It’s been proven that readers don’t retain as much of the book when read on an eReader. I know it holds true for me. Thanks, Trudy.
I have a friend whose husband is a big reader and, a few years ago, he did this very thing of putting a moratorium on buying any more books and instead making sure he’d read every single book he’d ever previously bought; he spent a long time on the classics so that they were actually read instead of just being shelf-pretty. It was an interesting challenge; he just read & read & read.
Since purging/decluttering/cleaning-out the house these past weeks, I’ve said to myself a few dozen times, “I.am.not.buying.one.more.thing.” Including books. I have so many books in this house and in boxes which remain unread. I’m going to tuck in and enjoy what I have…for a long, long time yet. But I do hear you; there’s nothing like a book in the hand (not a screen; a paper book). I know I’m gonna miss the thrill of cracking open a new book just received in the mail or that I bring home from B&N or wherever (but it’s gonna have to be delayed gratification for awhile). To me, a book is a gift; a treasure. Essential (to my being). I’m so glad I was raised to love books and reading; I tried to make sure I thanked my parents for that while they were still alive.
And who throws out a book? It’s a recyclable thing, to Goodwill, to Friends of The Library, maybe sold to a secondhand bookstore or passed on to friends and neighbors; books go on to live new lives with others. My young 3rd cousin is off to first year at university and a big investment for her has been the textbooks, and she decided to put my delayed high school grad (cash) gift to her toward the cost of her books. The students aren’t doing ALL their reading/learning on screens! We have a service club in town that gives out paperback dictionaries to school kids in the elementary grades every September; I think it’s great and they say the kids love having a book all their own. I do see a lot of young kids sitting with tablets/phones but I was somewhere yesterday near a school and I loved seeing elementary school kids out on the playground in some kind of after-school activity where they were playing ball, doing cartwheels, running and jumping. Hope we see more of that; get kids active again and off the computers/’video games’/phones. Then read a good book at bedtime!
Well, there are plenty of people out there who are pledging to read what they already have. It’s not a bad idea. However, I have to combine that with buying new books!
Yeah, I’ll get a tip on a book that somebody else has read and I want it! I have a friend who decided to stop buying books and she only goes to the library, but sometimes she has to wait a long time for her turn. I’ve learned about SO many books on this blog, Claudia, both from you and your readers; just a wonderful resource and you’re an amazing reviewer. It’s such a head-scratcher for me to find out how many books are keepers for others but which have alluded me over a really long number of years, completely unknown to me, like certain children’s books. And despite it being not-so-easy to get published, there are A LOT of writers (at least what I’ve seen on Amazon) putting out one after another new book out there, especially fiction series’. They’ll initially be on Kindle and then go to paperback. It’s delightful; there’s something for everybody!
Isn’t that wonderful?
I’m still a page-turner. The day will come where that may become more complicated so I understand where you are with that!
Three cheers on your hollyhock! I never can seem to get mine to grow!
I’m not at all there with that! That’s why I don’t use my Kindle. I’d rather read a large print book than play with the font on a Kindle. Thanks, Jeanie.
They’re thicker and take up more space but I love a large-print book and have bought several. I’m having a devil of a time with my vision for close-up paperwork and reading; am addressing it with the ‘eye doctor’ again soon (darn cataracts I guess). My uncle used to read with a magnifier and I don’t much want to have to go that route. I’m so nearsighted that it leaves very little ‘room’ on the eyeglass lens for close/indoor work, such that I’m always whipping off my eyeglasses, like in a store, to read a label with my naked eye. Could be as simple as switching to reading glasses, which I’ve tried before. Just makes me seasick, switching eyeglasses out like that (it was so easy when I could wear contact lenses but those days are over). My parents did enjoy audio books for awhile, once they got to that certain age. Options!
If large-print books help you, check some out from the library! Our little library has a lot of large-print books on the shelves.
Thanks for that tip. I keep saying I need to get back into ‘library’ mode and then don’t.
I only JUST said I wouldn’t buy any books for awhile, then got a lead on a couple I was interested in and, just like that, one tantalizing book after another, my Amazon cart is full again. Sigh.
That’s what I just did! We can’t help it, Vicki.
About 15 years ago when I was a school librarian I attended a conference about technology in the classroom. Of course, all of us librarians were very involved in using technology in our schools but when one speaker stood up to say that in a short time books would be obsolete, he was actually booed by his audience! I often reflect, with gratitude, that his prophecy has not been fulfilled!
Those guys are now eating their words, thank goodness! Thanks, Carol.
I’m with you on books. I don’t have a tablet, but I do have a smartphone and a laptop. I have the Kindle app on my phone and I don’t even know why, because I’ve never used it! I have always read print books and magazines and will continue to do so. Like you said, that’s just me. I have to have the paper in my hand. I can’t stand reading from a screen.
Me either! Though I used to do it out of necessity because many review books were only in that form.
I’m with you all – love my physical books, though they are a storage problem. I began enjoying audiobooks of non-fiction from the library, memoirs in particular, especially if it is the author reading their own work.
I haven’t been able to get into audio books. My sister uses them because she drives long distances for work and they really help to pass the time in traffic.
I have so many books on my shelves and I figure I will get to them one of these days, months, years! Hugs.
Much love to you, my friend.
I am a physical book fan. I do not even own a Kindle. I have no interest in e-books. Love that flower. It is gorgeous. My bookshelves are over flowing, but I still buy books.
Marilyn
Me too, Marilyn! We can’t help ourselves!
While I have a couple of books on my iPad…I bought physical copies of the same books to actually read. Couldn’t quite get the hang of reading a novel on my IPad….even with the turning page simulation. It just doesn’t feel right.
My dad would’ve been 106 on Oct. 4. I don’t think we ever stop missing our parents …I just think we learn a new way to cope while continuing to live our lives. ;)
Exactly. We just find a way to carry on. Thanks, Donnamae.
I was kindly bought a Kindle Fire for my 60th birthday. I use it for almost everything else except reading! It’s great for emails, blogs, Google, YouTube, BBC news & radio, even for catching up on missed BBC TV programmes but reading no way!
Nothing beats the feel of a book, the smell and texture of paper. It’s the same with magazines, I could through the library service download dozens of them for free, I tried it once but it wasn’t the same and I love magazines. These days I only have one on subscription – Woman & Home, and my son gifted me Country Living. Within my group of friends, we all swap, it’s like as I did as child exchanging comics!
I am old fashioned enough to still buy a physical copy of a music CD instead of streaming. I just prefer to hold objects, read the sleeve etc.
Oh yes, I tried a downloaded magazine and hated it! I understand. Love that you swap magazines with your friends. It’s old-fashioned in the best sense of the word.
I like having my favorite books around because it makes it so easy to revisit them. Authors put so much time and thought into their work, we the readers should give them their due of our attention and love. As to the glorious hollyhocks and morning glories, bravo! It is just getting cool enough in south Florida to start their seeds. I love that bluest of blue. This year I found some red morning glory seeds. Hmmmmm…
And I just like looking at the books on our shelves. They are old friends! Thanks, Leslie.
*Cheers* To both of your fathers. The sense of loss never goes away. I turned 52 this year and my father passed away at 52…this has been in my mind/heart for a while.
I’ve only read one book on my Ipad and started another one a few months ago. I’m also more of a fan of the ‘actual’ book and not the e-reader. Maybe we’re just old school? I actually forgot about the book I started on my Ipad until reading this post.
Definitely old school, but many of the book lovers I follow in Instagram are young. And they love actual books. That’s good news!