Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Trot Trot to Boston: Catching Fire


I am back at work after the Thanksgiving holiday. I flew to Boston on Thanksgiving and then took a flight at 11:45am Monday and came straight into work. The whole day felt like a dream, like I wasn't really here.

The best part about coming back was going home to see that Nick had surprised me by cleaning the house, hanging up pictures, and putting up a Christmas tree. The living room smelled like pine and the Christmas tree next to the fireplace made the room so cozy and nice.


Now I wish I could be home on my couch, wrapped in a blanket, drinking coffee, and reading The Hunger Games. I started the trilogy maybe two weeks ago and I am halfway done with the third book. I cannot stop. Every free moment I have, I want to be reading. Trilogies, young adult, soon to be movies- are not usually my kind of book. I am a self described literary snob. But this book has got me! It is well written, compelling, and unlike anything I have ever read. I am attached to the characters and as much as I want to keep reading, I will be sad to finish.


The other thing that has been contributing to my speed reading is the wedding present Kris and Steve gave us. The day before my wedding Kris presented me with a Nook. She explained that she knows I love books but for travelling, the Nook makes more sense. I wasn't so sure about it. Nick and I decided that if I didn't like using it, he would. And if I did use it, we would buy a second. Last week Nick bought a second.

The Hunger Games are the first books that I have read on the e-reader. Kris was right about the ease of travel. It is small and I can hold it in one hand. It remembers my page, I can turn it on and off with one button, and the pages don't rip, wrinkle, or smush in my pocketbook.

When I was in Boston, reading in my parent's basement I looked over and noticed the bookshelf. Two of the shelves are taken up by encyclopedias that my grandparents bought when we were kids. What an investment my grandparents wanted to make in us, updating the collection every year with science books. I held my Nook in one hand and slid the other along the spine of the navy books with gold lettering. My Mom cannot toss them out but when will they be used? How old fashioned it seems to use an encyclopedia as a reference. What will my children think of those books? And that right there is what scares me about e-readers.

I know it seems like a jump but I love books and I don't want them to be a thing of the past. I plan on continuing to build a library. Books that I love, books that I want around, I plan on buying hardcover copies and building an expansive library ala Beauty and the Beast.

I could look past the fangs too with a library like this!
 I have already declared myself as the aunt who will buy books and have started making a list of all the classics that Kaia needs to own. Last Christmas it was the hardcover complete collection of Winnie the Pooh, this year it was the Polar Express and Make Way for Ducklings. I just hope that someday she is not in my house reading from a tiny projecting watch when she looks up and wonders what somebody is to do with all those books.
Kaia reading a story to her animals.

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