This week my local town library had a book sale. It surprises me when I see people get excited about getting a new book. Being a bookworm myself, I guess I should just jump for joy, the love of books lives on post reality television show entertainment and overly scintillated box office movies. The truth is that it is easy to discard the old ways and focus on the new ones that are "bright and shiny." I remember the excitement I felt when I got a new CD player. I no longer had to rewind tapes if I wanted to hear the entire collection again. Or the time my family got a DVD player, I was ready to toss those old tapes out. Suddenly they looked like outdated, empty boxes.
Curiously, I have been eying the new Amazon Kindle and even put it on my birthday list. I went through my bookshelf last weekend and put a lot of books in the donate pile. However, I still have more than most people when it comes to books on my shelf. There are some books that I cannot part with, they have become part of the fabric in my apartment life. A handful of my collection are so loved that I had to have the hardcover edition as well as the paperback that I first fell in love with, dogeared the pages, and stuck it between the sheets of my bed.
I don't know if I will have the same love affair with the Kindle, but I know this is one "new" way that will not cause me to toss aside the old. I will continue to shop at bookstores, new and used, and go to the author signings and build my library. Even though I will keep up with the ever-changing technology, I will not forget the old, and in my opinion, the best way of reading. The feel of the crisp-sounding pages, and the smell of a new or used book as I curl up on the couch eager to begin a new adventure and meet a new character.
Enjoy the week with a good book between your sheets,
Sarah Jenkins
