Buy Book or Buy Nook?

I’m a huge ‘Sex and the City’ fan. And during the entire course of the series, they portrayed Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie) as someone who loved her library books. That’s me; that’s so me.

I love to read. I love books. I love going to the library to get books. And I love turning pages in a book. Yet, I’m beginning to think that it’s a thing of the past.

NOOKs, iPads, Tablets: What is reading coming to? They are all cool, but nothing is the same as cracking open and smelling the fresh pages of a new book. And there’s nothing like sliding my ‘shh! I’m-trying-to-read’ bookmark in between the pages when it’s time to take a break. And I love those moments when I find myself back to remove my bookmark within minutes, because the book is simply too captivating to put down and walk away from.

Really, people, I love my electronics just like the next person, but what happens when the power goes out and the battery dies? What happens when the electronic device breaks or just wears out? On a cold snowy day, do you sit by the fire with your NOOK now, instead of a book?

I’m sorry. To me, it’s just not the same thing.

Just the other day, a friend pointed out to me that “they are convenient for travel,” seeing that they contain more than one book. And books can become bulky. I agree that is a good point.

But the other day, another friend asked me to help her figure out how to connect to the internet on her NOOK. Once I got her connected, she spent the next 30 minutes trying to search for one item on a website. Due to the small screen, she repeatedly mis-clicked and had to restart the search.  Eventually she gave up and decided to wait until she was home in front of her computer to do the search.

We have too many devices for the same functions. Is that necessary? No, it is not.

Advertisers rave about how you can search the web, watch a movie or listen to your favorite tune. You, supposedly, can even take pictures, video chat, play games and type documents. These multifaceted devices are taking over the world.

It makes me think of that mid-90’s cartoon series “Pinky and the Brain.” A genius mouse and his sidekick try to conquer the world each night from a laboratory cage. I’m beginning to think that there is some mother electronic device that spews out orders on a daily basis to her minions. And if we don’t watch out we will be working for the computers, instead of the other way around.

Okay. Maybe I sound a bit dramatic, and maybe I even sound like a conspiracy theorist. It’s just that I remember as a youth learning to use the library in school. And I guess now they will replace that with classes on how to order eBooks, instead of learning about the card catalogue.

These things just add to the already long list of distraction devices; they take us away from the more important things in life. Even though I said I too like electronics – maybe I said love electronics – I’m afraid that soon we will all be living like the ‘Jetsons’. You remember them, right? They were a futuristic family who had a robot as a maid and they could push buttons on a computer to do all things that people could do.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I want to live like the ‘Waltons’ did either – without all the conveniences of our modern world. I’m just wondering where it all ends.

As a mom, some of my fondest memories shared with my son were when we read together. As he grew older, my son would go to the library and take out 10-15 books. I always felt warm knowing that I passed on this love of books to him

And if we look at this from an economic viewpoint, we can see, as usual, that there are pros and cons. You can carry more books with these devices, but can you pay for the books? The books are less expensive, but that’s what libraries are for. Plus there are book printers who have staffs to pay. We wouldn’t want to see more businesses go under, would we?

So, Melissa’s advice is: let’s all take our children to the library and show them around; if you don’t have children, just go by yourself; and after you have visited your local library, consider buying a new book this week. Think of it as doing your part for the economy. And it would make me feel better, because I just love books.