From One Book Lover

I love having a Kindle e-reader because I'm never without a book. I can pull into any sandwich shop or doctor's office and have something to read in an instant — something good, something I enjoy. However, I understand the imbalance of power: I don't own the material on it. This is a small but very important point with me: I am "borrowing" the material for a price, and the very convenience of the current setup could be its greatest undoing. I don't own the book. Or music. Or magazine. Even if I paid the agreed-upon price and downloaded it to my device, the distributor can remove it as easily as it was WhisperSync'ed on it. As a result, I often purchase books I already own in print: free classics in the public domain, cheap copies of my favorites on the shelf. I also plan to purchase the books I want to keep in perpetuity. There are other drawbacks, too. Not all publishers have all books available in Kindle format. True, newer books are being publi...

So, I went to Barnes and Noble this week. Twice. I was lonely. A friend had given David a gift card. I kept getting their constant, invasive e-mails that told me nothing of interest: buy a Nook, buy a Nook, and get a coupon for your Nook. I don't own a Nook, so seldom were there useful coupons for me. But I needed a bookstore, a bona fide bookstore. I had trolled the thrift stores, come home with piles of books (some I might even read). I was full — but not content. I like seeing what's new, what is coming up. I like to touch hardbacks, flip through softcovers, peer at the cover, look at the typeface. I like to be surprised: I want to exclaim: a new Vincenzi already? So that's what Mark Haddon's cover really looks like! I want to find a deal, whip out my coupon for the one I want, buy an extra paperback to leave in the car.  I want to participate. Amazon is cool: great service, fantastic selection, incredible prices. I have gotten rather spoiled by Amazon: no...

I miss My Borders. The cultural blog/aggregator Flavorwire was kind enough this week to tell me about " 10 of the Most Hilarious Memoirs You’ll Ever Read ." Intrigued, I checked it out — and found a memoir that sounded really, really good:  Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by The Bloggess Jenny Lawson. Two words: must have . In the olden days, I'd have stopped by My Borders on the way home from the gym that night and picked up my copy, maybe even started reading it in the store (with a cookie and a latte from the café).  Alas, that is no longer my life.  Instead, I checked a couple of resources to see what this book would set me back. (For those of you keeping score at home, the publisher has set the manufacturer's suggested retail price, or MSRP, at $27.99.)   Amazon featured it for $12.99, which was a fine price, but add in shipping and the fact I'd have to wait, and the price became less attractive. Plus, after seeing th...

I have seen the future without Borders, and it is Target. And it makes me wish to weep. David and I stopped by Borders the other day to indulge yet again (and to say "hello" to our future shelves).  We had a stack of goods we literally could not carry without each others' help.  Between coffee table books on music and guitars, a Jackie Chan video, Game of Thrones , The Anubis Gates , another Flavia mystery novel and a few novels and DVDs that will be gifts, our arms were full. While we were there, I could not find some of the more recently published books, but I suspect most of the newer items had been snatched up quickly.  There was a biography I had tried for the better part of a year to pick up at the bookstore, but was again unsuccessful. Today I encountered a book trailer that made me want to race out and purchase said book (thanks to Harper Collins Canada ).  I knew I wasn't going to risk another encounter at Borders so soon — it's too exhausting ...