I love books. I love books like some women love shoes. I have hundreds (used to be nearly a thousand, but lots of moves forced me to cull the herd more than twice). I worked in a bookstore for a good four years, which were some of the best years of my life. BOOKS AND COFFEE EVERYWHERE, what more could a caffeinated nerd ask for?
I resisted when the Kindle and other e-readers came on the scene. I flew the flag of “out of my cold, dead hands” for a good long while, preferring the heft and feel of an actual, paper book. At one point, I paid an additional $65 dollars in luggage fees because my suitcases were stuffed full of books coming home with me from Chicago. That’s dedication to the printed word, friends.
Then Scotland happened. I was about to finish a whole bunch of books and I knew I would need MORE BOOKS for travelling, but I didn’t want to take up precious luggage space with huge doorstops full of words. As it was, my bags weighed in at 21.5kg and 21.9kg, respectively. Just under the 22kg weight limit, HIGH FIVES FOR ALL. So books were sort of out of the question.
WHAT TO DO?
Oh.
So I bought a Kindle, literally a week before the Kindle Fire came out. I didn’t want a Kindle Fire, however, so that didn’t faze me in the slightest. I read A LOT. And eyestrain is starting to be a concern, what with me being elderly and whatnot. The idea of e-paper or e-ink or whatever they call it was alluring. So, Arthur (that’s my Kindle’s name) entered my life, and nothing has been the same since.
In a good way, I mean.
I know! I KNOW. I’m sad about it too. But it has opened up so many new possibilities! I can read almost anywhere, thanks to the Kindle app on my phone and the light on my Kindle case. (This is starting to be a Kindle advertisement). But I read more now than I ever have before, simply because my books are so much more portable. I can easily get through 8 or 9 books in a week, and now I can read them all at the same time. Or combine physical books with the e-books!
The only thing bumming me out, however, is the amount of money I am spending. I don’t mind buying books, but sometimes I just want to read a shitty book and not have to shell out cash money for it. This is why the library has almost all of Danielle Steele’s offerings. Nobody wants to be buying that crap! I still go to the library and check out books, but then we’re back to that low-portability issue and the fact that What’s-His-Name gets crabby if I have the light on for too long whilst reading in bed. Plus, it’s the 21st century, my friends! There’s no real reason why my tiny library can’t get on the e-book wagon, you know?
And now they have. Our library is miniscule. There’s just not a lot of room for books and it has to be curated ruthlessly. But with e-books, oh… friends. The possibilities.
UNFORTUNATELY, my library’s e-book situation doesn’t currently work on the regular (non-Fire) Kindle.
THIS FILLS ME WITH RAGE.
(and heaping helping of gratitude that this, THIS is the biggest problem I have in my life at the moment)
This is because the e-book lending situation is an app. And derrrrrrrrrrrr the regular old-skool Kindle doesn’t “do” apps, WHICH IS THE REASON I HAVE ONE.
RAGE!
Ahem.
My phone, however, does do apps. My Magic Space Phone! So… I guess I could read things on my phone but ugh. Tiny and battery-eating! It’ll do in a pinch, I GUESS.
But the app is supported by Baker & Taylor, and I harbor quite a bit of resentment toward that place. Not the place itself so much as the fucking bitch boss I had who trained me poorly and did not support me AT ALL. I am still mad about that. Granted, the end of my tenure there was fully and totally my own fault, but I honestly feel like things would have gone better had I had a better manager, who was less of a bitch.
Annnnnnnnyway, I’m still futzing around with this Blio app thingus, so I don’t have an opinion of it just yet. I will soon, however. And I hope the catalog of books available will be deep and varied and not full of Danielle Fucking Steele.