I'm happy to say I staunchly refuse to have an account for Amazon. I still read paper books, mostly from libraries. Something about the feel of the paper & connection to others that have read that particular book (I miss the check-out cards!).
I don't know if you remember, one year during a Lenten series you had us write about/describe a house. I chose my grandparents house & wrote about the old upright piano & figuring out all the notes/chords in sheet music just from knowing where middle C was, and my great-grandfather's library in the house. Sitting in the big overstuffed leather chair with the letter opener cutting pages as I read about the new, contemporary playwrights Ibsen & Chekhov. You looked at me & said, "This explains sooo much." Almost 1000 volumes. Since my Dad passed, we didn’t have a home for them, but my niece's husband said they will take them. Their sons will be the 6th generation to have those books, one with a printing date of 1707! Oh, those books! And I still have the piano also.🥰
Now there's something I hadn't thought of: the connection with people who have read the book before me (or you.) Yes, that is a lineage. (Now, lost, unfortunately.)
And yes, I do remember that dream. I forgot the part about Chekhov and Ibsen, but that only makes it more delightful to hear it now.
Never let go of that piano. I have only sold, or given away, two or three of the god-knows-how-many musical instruments I have, and I regret every single one that I no longer have.
I'm entirely a real-paper-book reader. And I avoid Amazon like the plague. Rarely, one must resort to it, begrudgingly, but it MUST be a last choice. Your Monet-themed piece is lovely. I am still not sure if I am ever doing Spotify correctly and never know if I am finding what I am supposed to be finding...it seems so random that I actually manage it. Just because I got an A+ in statistics doesn't mean I'm logical enough to figure out everything.
There is one (for me anyway) legitimate reason to purchase a Kindle book (although I do understand the convenience.) If there is a book I want to take notes on (currently, that's "Money, Lies, and God," by Katherine Stewart), it is easy to take highlight and have those as notes in one document. One sacrifice on the altar of Amazon that I will grudgingly make.
One quibble about my Kindle to which I feel a real attachment. Yes I have been a real paper book lover since a toddler and a librarian for 40 years. I also know I am linked to wicked Amazon for my texts, but I love their immediacy.
I am trying to read Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts, a 1940s novel of the American Revolution from the perspective of a persecuted British loyalist. It is 900 pages and on loan from the library. Yes a “real book” and something Americans should read as we celebrate our separation from England. Not the history we have honored. Not available on Kindle.
You're right, Mary. Tough to be an absolutist on Kindle. Some books (Rise and Fall of the Third Reich) are hernia-inducing and cannot travel well.
And then, there is the highlight feature. I prefer my own marginalia (and the laughs I get from re-reading my notes rom forty years ago), but highlights into a summary is a nifty feature.
Also, I read slowly. So I'm not burning the Kindle at both ends. (You saw that coming, right?)
First off, thank you so much for your kind words and signal boost. I love your concentration exercises, and I salute you for being ahead of the wave and making a conscious effort to retain your autonomy of thought.
One of the things that annoys me the most about our shiny new “masters” (our mobile phones) is how dependent some people have become.
And this in turn explains all the “posturing” we see on social media. People are forgetting how to be real.
I'm happy to say I staunchly refuse to have an account for Amazon. I still read paper books, mostly from libraries. Something about the feel of the paper & connection to others that have read that particular book (I miss the check-out cards!).
I don't know if you remember, one year during a Lenten series you had us write about/describe a house. I chose my grandparents house & wrote about the old upright piano & figuring out all the notes/chords in sheet music just from knowing where middle C was, and my great-grandfather's library in the house. Sitting in the big overstuffed leather chair with the letter opener cutting pages as I read about the new, contemporary playwrights Ibsen & Chekhov. You looked at me & said, "This explains sooo much." Almost 1000 volumes. Since my Dad passed, we didn’t have a home for them, but my niece's husband said they will take them. Their sons will be the 6th generation to have those books, one with a printing date of 1707! Oh, those books! And I still have the piano also.🥰
Now there's something I hadn't thought of: the connection with people who have read the book before me (or you.) Yes, that is a lineage. (Now, lost, unfortunately.)
And yes, I do remember that dream. I forgot the part about Chekhov and Ibsen, but that only makes it more delightful to hear it now.
Never let go of that piano. I have only sold, or given away, two or three of the god-knows-how-many musical instruments I have, and I regret every single one that I no longer have.
I'm entirely a real-paper-book reader. And I avoid Amazon like the plague. Rarely, one must resort to it, begrudgingly, but it MUST be a last choice. Your Monet-themed piece is lovely. I am still not sure if I am ever doing Spotify correctly and never know if I am finding what I am supposed to be finding...it seems so random that I actually manage it. Just because I got an A+ in statistics doesn't mean I'm logical enough to figure out everything.
Hey Susan, good to hear from you.
There is one (for me anyway) legitimate reason to purchase a Kindle book (although I do understand the convenience.) If there is a book I want to take notes on (currently, that's "Money, Lies, and God," by Katherine Stewart), it is easy to take highlight and have those as notes in one document. One sacrifice on the altar of Amazon that I will grudgingly make.
One quibble about my Kindle to which I feel a real attachment. Yes I have been a real paper book lover since a toddler and a librarian for 40 years. I also know I am linked to wicked Amazon for my texts, but I love their immediacy.
I am trying to read Oliver Wiswell by Kenneth Roberts, a 1940s novel of the American Revolution from the perspective of a persecuted British loyalist. It is 900 pages and on loan from the library. Yes a “real book” and something Americans should read as we celebrate our separation from England. Not the history we have honored. Not available on Kindle.
You're right, Mary. Tough to be an absolutist on Kindle. Some books (Rise and Fall of the Third Reich) are hernia-inducing and cannot travel well.
And then, there is the highlight feature. I prefer my own marginalia (and the laughs I get from re-reading my notes rom forty years ago), but highlights into a summary is a nifty feature.
Also, I read slowly. So I'm not burning the Kindle at both ends. (You saw that coming, right?)
First off, thank you so much for your kind words and signal boost. I love your concentration exercises, and I salute you for being ahead of the wave and making a conscious effort to retain your autonomy of thought.
One of the things that annoys me the most about our shiny new “masters” (our mobile phones) is how dependent some people have become.
And this in turn explains all the “posturing” we see on social media. People are forgetting how to be real.
Thanks for this urgent and badly needed message.