This Reminds Me

Archive for December, 2011

As 2012 approaches, our family is undergoing a fundamental shift in its #1 pastime – reading.

Keith and I come from families that read constantly.  I remember Mom and Judy swapping grocery bags stuffed with books.  My mom always had a book going – in fact, several:  One each in or by her chair in the den, bedside, car, purse and yes, one in the bathroom.  No Christmas or birthday was complete without a new book.  Or two.  Or three.   My first external validation of childhood responsibility was acquiring a library card – from a Houston Book Mobile that camped in a grocery store parking lot, long before Meyer Branch Library was built.

Keith and I love to read.  Our 1992 “Three Wise Woodworths” Christmas card plus….

…the Christmas card insert.   I’ll bet I read “Muppets in my Neighborhood” to Rachel 500 times.

But over time, what do you do with books?  Swap them around, sure.  Sell an occasional load to Half Price Books, maybe.  Build/buy more shelves, assuredly.  I quit keeping any but the most rare of freshly-acquired books soon after we moved here, simply because our den and bedroom shelves overflowed.

Enter the e-Reader.

I am not a technological early adopter.  I love technology – when it works for me.  But I have no interest in being “first.”  I am more than willing for someone else to work out the bugs and let the price drop before I buy a new toy.

Keith is a technological early adopter.  The financial constraints of providing for a six-person family, however, mean that he can’t always “be first” as he usually was when he was single.  He has to weigh purchases with their value for six people, not just one.  But when he buys – wow, he knows what’s doing.   He’s been a forums user since the 90′s and scours scores of tech sites daily.   He is our family’s source for knowledge of all things that must boot.

Keith switched to an e-Reader – specifically, a Barnes & Noble Nook – about two years ago.  His motto:  “No more dead tree.”  He carries his scri-fi loaded Nook everywhere he might have a chance to read on it  He no longer buys – and very seldom reads – paper books.

I downloaded the Amazon Kindle, Nook, Borders Kobo and iBooks apps for my iPad last Christmas and slowly began to read e-Books, enticed by a great holiday sale at Borders.  I liked e-Reading fine, but still refused to chant “no dead tree.”  After a year of e-Reading mixed with paper reading, I can see advantages/disadvantages to each – especially since Lois, Hannah, Julia and my sister Judy got Nooks for Christmas this year.

Lois’ Nook on its charger amidst her desk clutter.  The best books I read this year were “Empire of the Summer Moon,” and “The Immortal Henrietta Lacks,” and I read them digitally.

Advantages to an e-Reader

1.  Portability.  You can carry multiple books with you easily.  When I traveled with “dead tree,” I always carried three books – the one I was currently reading, my next planned book and a third, just in case the “next planned” was a dog.  Now I just slip my iPad in my carry-on and I’m done.

2.  Ease of reading.  As I’ve – ummm, “matured” – I’ve noticed font sizes getting smaller.  Any decent e-reader allows font size change, brightness change (if back lit), etc.  One exception:  Most e-readers have small screens.  As Judy has pointed out – “I wish there was more on a page.”  Tablets have the bigger screens, but are also pricey.

3.  Familiarity.  My kids have always lived in a digital world.  They are more comfortable with electronics than other media.  Rachel bought her own Nook a few months ago and has more than doubled the amount of time she reads for pleasure.  We’re hoping an e-Reader will do the same for Julia, who seldom reads for fun unless goaded.

“The Magic Tree House” reads better digitally, I’m told…..

4.  Convenience.  Want that book?  Just log in and download it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.  No wasting gas driving to a b&m (bricks and mortar) store, or waiting on UPS to deliver the box.

5.  Storage.   Look around.  Enough said.

Advantages to “Dead Tree”

1.  Personalization.  An inscribed bo0k means something – at least to me.  I don’t think an Amazon gift card for a Kindle book is nearly as personal as an inscribed tome.  More practical, yes, but not as personal.

I find it difficult to give away any book my mom inscribed to me.  Ridiculous, because she was more than pen and ink.  But still difficult.  I met author Robert Massie at a luncheon this fall.  He inscribed a copy of his new “Catherine the Great” to Julia.  After I read it, I’ll place that “dead tree” copy in her room.  She’ll appreciate it one day.  I hope.

2.  Ease of sharing.  Amazon plus Barnes and Noble have very limited sharing ability.  99.99% of the time, if you bought the book, it can only be read via the device associated with your account.  You can’t – as I have done for so many years – throw that book in a closet for your next trip to Houston to hand off to your sister.

3.  Annotating.  You can digitally annotate, but my fat fingers don’t like tiny keyboards.  It’s easier for me to grab a yellow highlighter and a pen to mark up whatever devotional our Wednesday night bible class is studying.

4.  Better choices in the public library.  At least in San Antonio, the digital choices are slim compared to paper.  And who has time to drive to the library?  I just don’t.  I grew up an avid library user (both public and school) but found that after I had kids, I simply did not have time to work in non-essential car trips, or patience for one more due date.  Sounds whiny, but true.

Neutral Factors

1.  Cost.  Sure, there’s an entry cost to e-Readers, but devices have gotten much cheaper – and prices continue to fall.  I don’t think entry cost is significant any longer if you’re buying an e-Reader.  Now if you’re buying a tablet with e-Reader apps – that’s different.  Tablets definitely carry a significant entry cost.  Also, the cost of e-books versus paper books has narrowed to about $1 for new releases.  Of course, used paper books and/or late release paperbacks are cheaper.   Commensurately, late release paperback prices for e-Readers  are lower, too.  I know there are a million variables, and I am generally pretty frugal with entertainment money and – ceteris parabis – I think the costs are closing in on “equal” for most purchases.

As part of cost…..if you lose a paperback book, it’s usually an annoyance, but not a big deal.  I’ve left them on the bus, at the doctor’s office, etc.  Irritating, but not devastating.  If I lost my iPad, I’d be crushed.  Crippled.  Inconsolable.  In addition to being without my best friend, it’d cost $500+ to replace it.  So I do not carry my iPad on the bus, where I none-too-gently sling around my “blue bag.”  If/when I see a killer deal on Nooks, I think I’ll get myself one strictly as my “leave the house” reader.  I tend to take care of my possessions and wouldn’t plan to lose it or break it, but if I did, I wouldn’t tear my clothes and cover myself in ashes like I would if it were my iPad.

My “bus bag, ” souvenir of working the 1992 Republican Convention.  It will wear out one day (as the numerous small holes enlarge) but in the meantime, it carries my lunch, an umbrella and my current “bus book.”  I have an entire section of a wall unit crammed with a diminishing supply of paperbacks ($.50@) and hard backs ($1@) we bought in April at the NEISD used book sale.  We’ve gone every year but I wonder if we’ll go in 2012?  I kind of doubt it.

2.  Inventory.  If it’s new, a classic or sold well in the last 50 years, chances are there’s an e-version.

I hope your 2012 is filled with life, laughter and lots of good books – however you read them.

Just returned from a quick trip to see “The Cousins” in Houston.

My sister Judy (pictured), my brilliant niece Sarah and I did quite a bit of thizzzz.  We are always ready to settle down for long winter’s naps.

This was my usual view of the kids this week – the backs and sides of heads clustered around whatever iPod, DSi, Nook, Android, iPhone, etc. was handy.  Laura – age eight – picked up Rachel’s Android tablet for the first time and had pulled up Netflix in moments.  They all amaze me.

And now we’re on countdown for the happiest of birthday parties.

Merry Christmas!

Tonight all six of us clapped for Julia, one of the fifth grade Arabian dancers in her school’s performance of “The Nutcracker.”

Lean to the left!  Julia is front and center.  She thought her placement was because she was not as tall as some of the other performers, but Rachel assured her only the good dancers made the front row.

This was the last elementary school play for Keith and me, having attended our first in 1996 enduring enjoying kindergartener Rachel belting out “Baby Beluga, Under the Sea.”  More memorable Woodworth moments on stage included Lois-the-sheep “molting” while white cotton balls slowly loosened from her shower cap, Hannah-the-Greek Goddness singing a duet of “Greece is the Word,” and Rachel portraying a sausage in a play (whose name escapes me) about food products.  Seldom had I seen pork played to that depth.

We’re entering a season of “lasts” and “firsts” at home.  “Last” school play.  “First” child” preparing to leave for college.  “Last” child in the children’s ministry at church.  “First” summer we could just stop somewhere on the way home from work if we wanted to.  “Last” Sister’s Day coming up where all four girls will be home.  “First” year of serious boyfriends.  And the beat goes on.

The chorus struck a chord with me:

Desert sands that spin and blow

Distant stars that gleam and glow

Desert midnight

Camels lie sleeping

Silver moon shines bright

Desert midnight

Silent sands keeping

Watch all through the night

I think those “desert sands that spin and glow” are the sands of time, swirling more and more quickly.

I’m watching.  Some days for the first time, and some days for the last.  But I’m watching.