Run for the Borders

Borders is going out of business. Whoda thunk? Borders was my go-to place to browse. Some people walk the malls and try on clothes. I go to Borders and just...browse. I look at the magazines and check my favorite sections of the store. I love looking at the computer section, because all those big books are too expensive to buy, but I can look up things that I'm interested in. I love looking at the travel section, at all the books about places I've been and places I'd like to go.

I check the 2-for-1 table and the table where there are big discounts for buying more than one book.

I look at the calendars and see which I want to get for the next year...and try to get there early to buy next year's Sierra Club desk calendar, to which I have become a slave in the past several years.

I look through the paper good section and see what sorts of ridiculously overpriced cards and paper goods I won't buy, but like to check out.

I wander through the children's section and look for cute books for Bri...and then don't buy them because I can't believe that people actually spend $15 or more on toddler books that are only a few pages long.

And as I write this, I begin to see why Borders is going out of business. I'm a browser, but when it comes to actually buying something, I have joined the move to electronic media.

I've written before about my childhood where I would get six books a week from the local library, cart them home and read them all as quickly as I could so I could go get more.

I don't buy as many real hold-in-your-hands books any more now that I have all of my "gadgets."

I have an iPod, an iTouch and a Kindle. That means I'm never without something to read or listen to. It's audio books in the car, iTouch books with the kindle app during intermission at the theatre or in the car after dark. The Kindle has become the reader of choice at other times. I can (and do) have several books going at one time on the Kindle, and a different book going on the iTouch and perhaps one book that I'm listening to by mysef on the iPod, and another book I'm listening to with Walt.

For example, right now we just finished a Lee Child audio book and I'm listening to a Patricia Cornwell book on the iPod ( the latter was a test, to see how much I liked Cornwell as an audio and I've discovered I don't like it at all. The voice for the familliar characters was so far off what I've "heard" in my head while reading her earlier books that I am not enjoying that part of it).

On the Kindle, I'm reading a Dick Francis book; a book called "Driving in China," which is wonderful; a book about snail mail; and book whose name I have forgotten. There might be another one "active" at the moment. Whatever my mood is for whatever kind of book, I have a wide selection from which to choose.

On the iTouch, I'm reading a book of Dick Cavett columns.

(The problem with this is that I carry all of the electronic gadgets in my purse at the same time, along with my camera and heavy wallet. I just weighed the purse--it weighs more than 5-1/2 lbs! But, for example, when we stopped for gas or at a rest stop coming home from Santa Barbara, we would turn off the audio book and I could pull out my Kindle to read another book while waiting for Walt to return to the car!)

Oh, and I'm reading a couple of "real" books too, a book called "I'm not a tourist, I live here," which a woman I met recently here in Davis has written about behind the scenes in San Francisco, and a book by Dean Koontz about his dog.

I sometimes shake my head at all the things I'm reading and that I can keep them all straight, which I seem to be able to do. But I do realize that my less than generous contributions to the coffers of Borders has helped bring about its demise. I suppose I should feel guilty about that, but I suspect that it won't really bother me until I start wondering where I will be able to find my desk calendar for next year!

Gotcha

I should have seen it coming. But it's here...perhaps not quite here, but coming close.

When the Kindle became the "gotta have it" toy of two years ago, though I did not buy one, one of the appealing things was that I could buy "new" books and wouldn't have to pay new book prices. The Kindle editions were generally $9 for new books that were selling for >$20 in the stores. Such a deal!

Gradually, as the number of Kindle sales have increased, I've seen the price of new Kindle books creep up too. Now it's not uncommon to find only a couple of dollars between the hard book price and the Kindle price. Amazon managed to sucker thousands of people into spending ~$300 (that was the initial price) for an electronic book reader and then began to remove the reason why many of us would prefer an electronic book reader in the first place.

I buy most of my books, whether electronic, for my free iTouch Kindle app, or paper books at Amazon or Borders. My friend Alison (a book store owner in her own town) rolls her eyes at that, but we have only one locally-owned book store in town (the rest left when Borders moved in) and I just happen not to like that store, for personal reasons. So it's either Borders or Amazon for me, mostly Amazon because I'm lazy--buying at Borders involves actually getting out of the house and walking around a store.

With Amazon you can buy new, at a discounted price (which, even if you pay postage, is still less than a regular book store) or there are options to buy used from other vendors. I was amused the other day to see Jon Stewart's new book, "Earth" (which I will probably buy from Borders, if I buy it, because I want to look at it first) selling new for $15.10 and used for $18.85. Now that's just plain silly. Why pay >$3 more for a used book?

Book stores, whether hands-on or on-line, are to me what shoe stores are to a lot o women. I know my way around bookstores and am hopelessly lost (and disinterested) in shoe stores! Though I recently heard of women paying more than a thousand dollars for a pair of shoes or a handbag. Even expensive Kindle books seem like dirt cheap in comparison!

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The fall television season has started and I am in hog heaven. My DVR is filling up faster than I can watch the shows. In addition to old favorites returning for a new season (NCIS, House, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, etc.), there are actually new shows that show promise, like Outlaw and The Event.

I was initially put off by all the hype for The Event and afraid it would not live up to press, but the first episode made me look forward to the second, so we shall see.

I even started recording NCIS-LA, now that it seems to have found its own footing and isn't trying to be an NCIS clone any more. It's worth it, if only for the enigmatic Linda Hunt.

I'm a sucker for reality competitions, too. I have no interest in the housewives of anywhere, or bachelors or bachelorettes of anyplace, but I love all those cooking competitions and, of course, am sticking with Survivor and Amazing Race.

When Top Chef ended (I was very happy with the outcome), Top Chef: Desserts started. This is a brand new cooking competition and I thought that since it features desserts, I would love it because I could live vicariously. I've only seen 2 episodes and so far I don't love it. This past week had perhaps one of the weirdest events ever, with one contestant breaking down in hysterical tears during the Quick Fire challenge, so much so that he had to be held in the arms of and comforted by the celebrity judge (who then voted his dessert as one of the least favorites). He then went off on all of his fellow contestants more than once. During a "shopping" spree behind a liquor bar, he stuck the pouring spout of several fruit bottles in his nose to test for the flavor.

It was when he draped spring-form pan frames over his head and topped them off wth a big bowl so nobody would look at him that I just shook my head and hoped he would get voted off. He didn't this week, but he's obviously not long for the competition. His mother may be very ill and have thousands of dollars worth of medical bills and he may love her more than life itself and want the prize money to help her, but he lost even my sympathy vote by his bizarre behavior (and I'm a sucker for a hard luck story).

Survivor this season is pitting the "old tribe" against the "young tribe" (and how depressing it was to hear that the "old tribe" consisted of anybody older than forty. My CHILDREN are older than forty!)

I don't know whether Survivor has been on too long and people are behaving differently because they've watched it so long, or whether the mixed age tribes worked better because the older people mellowed out the younger ones, or whether more age-group specific groups just bring out the worst in everybody, but with very few exception on either team, I don't like anybody. They are all behaving like jerks.

I just hope that there is going to be somebody worth rooting for when Amazing Race starts on Sunday.

Addicted to TV? Why yes, I am. Why do you ask? (be quiet, Jeri)

Whoda thunk?

P.S. to yesterday's entry. Remember I said that the book ended with stuff about our trip to New York and Washington D.C.? I hadn't read what I wrote about the trip. We left from the San Francisco airport and it took us fourteen hours, and four stops (Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and Washington) before we arrived at Idlewilde in New York. Wow--you can get to London in less time than that -- and nonstop too!!!)

And my friend Diane sent me this blast from the past, which is a good complement to yesterday's entry...and I remember every single one of those things!

But I digress. On to today's subject...

I started subscribing to Bob Rankin's Tourbus so long ago that I can't imagine the internet without it. His issues are always filled with important information to help either the novice internet user or the expert. Not that I read it all the time, because despite being on the net for so many years, I'm still barely out of the "novice" category, but every so often something pops out at me. Yesterday's newsletter (Vol. 14, No. 18) was headed with "Free Online Storage / Online Books / Bing / Wireless TV / Scareware"

I wasn't sure what Bing or Scarewere were, but the word "Free" always intrigues me so I went to the home page, specifically to check out the free online storage (cause can one ever have too much storage?) and ended up buried in all the options for free online books.

Recently I'd been checking out a book on Amazon and noticed that the printed price was $0.00. Figuring that must be a typo and that I wasn't going to order anything that probably had a much higher price, when I didn't know what that price was, I skipped over it. Now I find out that there are literally hundreds of books you can order for the Kindle application (or any electronic book reader) that are free.

The $9.99 that I pay for most of the books I order for the Kindle app (I always have to clarify that this is an app, not the full size Amazon Kindle, which is way more expensive than I'm willing to pay!) is cheaper than buying the paperback version of the same book, so I've been thinking it was a real bargain. (The only downside is that you can't pass along a really good book to someone else to read, I discovered when Marta asked to borrow a book I'd raved about recently).

But heck...free is even better!

It just so happened that my friend Ed, with whom we had dinner the other night, stopped by yesterday to drop off a book we'd talk about over dinner. It's "Miracle and other Christmas Stories," by science fiction writer Connie Willis. I have only just started reading it and, in fact, am just going through the introduction before getting into the actual stories themselves.

She's an author who loves Christmas and everything about it, especially the stories, the movies and the made-for-TV shows and in the introduction she talks about her favorites and the ones she hates (among which is It's A Wonderful Life, which makes me feel not so alone in my sentiment that I could live the entire rest of my life without seeing that film and feel perfectly happy!)

Anyway, the book is filled with things you "must read" and when she began to wax eloquent about P.G. Wodehouse and insist that the reader pick up one of his books -- any of his books -- I had to check out the list on the Kindle store, delighted to find so many in the $0.00 section. I also found several others that she recommended, all free.

I had to drive to a wifi hotspot to download all the books I ordered, but I should now have enough reading material to get me to Paris and back again, and then some! (Especially considering the exciting array of movies on Air France, which I found on the Air France web site...I may not open my iTouch on the plane at all)

I have also discovered why I'm so crazy about the Kindle app. It's because of the type size. The type on the Kindle isn't all that much larger than, for example, this book by Connie Willis, but it is just large enough (plus back-lit), SO much easier to read. The combination of the darker colored paper on which the stories are printed in the book and the slightly smaller typeface make reading a struggle, whereas there is none of that struggle with the Kindle.

I keep a database of books I've read (reviews of which are printed on this web site) and realized that of all the books I've read this year, with only two exceptions, all have been either Kindle books or audio books. I am also discovering that with the easier reading on the Kindle and the ability to listen to books when I'm driving alone in the car for long distances, I am rapidly becoming the voracious reader I once was. I guess it never really occurred to me how much I'd cut back on reading until I picked up this Connie Willis book and realized that I was struggling to read it. I can still read the more expensive hardback books, whose typeface is larger, but I just hardly ever pick up paperbacks any more because I know it's going to be a struggle on my eyes.

I talked with the optometrist about it and apparently my eyes are corrected as much as they can be, given the configuration of my eyes, and while I can read, I just don't read as comfortably as I did before. Or didn't, until the Kindle app for the iTouch came along. It really has revitalized my reading, something that had diminished so slowly that I didn't even realized it had diminished until I began to get it back again.

There are only just so many reruns of Little House on the Prairie that you can watch in a lifetime. Occasionally you just want to sit down with a book to read. And now reading has become a pleasure again. I wonder if this helps to explain the popularity of Kindles. Have all of us old farts been sitting around squinting at books for years, wondering why reading wasn't quite the relaxing pleasure that it once was and are now discovering that it can be again?

And I was the person who thought reading a book electronically was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard of.

I guess I've become a convert...especially now that I find I can get so many books I should have read decades ago for free!

Kindling the Flame

Kindles are all the rage these days.

A Kindle is a machine that lets you read books, magazines and newspapers. It will hold over 1,500 books. If you've read all your books and need another one instantly, you can download a book in seconds ($9.99 per book, unless otherwise indicated). You can also get your books read to you--if you're in the middle of a book and are going to be driving somewhere, it will play it for you (earphones optional; it doesn't say whether there is a way to have the sound come through your car speakers, but I'm sure there is--for an additional $30-$50). It also remembers the page you were last reading, so no hunting around for a bookmark. People who have Kindles absolutely love them.

As a gadget geek, when Amazon first announced the Kindle, I was intrigued. How fun it would be. Lighter to carry around than a big book, if I were reading a thick book.

But then I started thinking of all the reasons I like books, and the big reason (other than cost) why I should not even think about getting a Kindle.

Books are more than just "something to read." Books are a whole sensual experience. The heft of the book in your hand, the feel of the paper as you turn the pages, the smell of a musty old book store, the design of the page...the font chosen. It's all part of the reading experience.

Then there is the fun of rummaging through someone's box of used books and finding just exactly the book you were looking for, or discovering a brand new author that your friend loved and you'd never read before.

To say nothing of the feeling you get when you donate a box of beloved books to a charity store and watching others looking through the book shelves trying to find their own gems. (I recently picked up two new Michael Connellys at the SPCA thrift store and a James Heriot I hadn't read.)

If all of your reading is on a Kindle, how will babysitters amuse themselves rummaging through your bookshelves for something to read? (I remember the first time I went to a house that had no books in it and how amazed I was because I'd always grown up with books.) (And yeah, I realize that today babysitters are watching TV or playing video games...but I can dream, can't I?)

Kindle seems to be another step in the focus on "me" and away from "others." If I read a great book on a Kindle, I can't then give it to my mother and tell her she has to read this book. Books are not transferrable to other machines, apparently (which makes sense--Amazon is not in the business of charity).

But there's an even bigger reason why I should never have a Kindle.

Basically (and yes, I can see Peggy nodding her head), I'm a terrible klutz.

I can't walk across the room without knocking something over. I remember once we were in a small store in Seattle and after the second or third time I'd nearly knocked something over, Peggy pointed at me and said "You. Outside." I waited outside while she completed her purchase. She rolled her eyes a lot when we were out shopping.

If I had a kindle, I'd drop it, or sit on it, or lose it or knock it into a puddle of water, or let a puppy chew on it. I'm 100% convinced that would happen.

Now I can see a lot of plusses to having a Kindle. Apparently you can read blogs on your kindle. That would be cool, to be able to read blogs while I'm away from the computer--I could keep up better. Also I think you can increase the print size, which might also be nice with some books. And I suspect that I could read in the car at night without disturbing the driver. That would be great.

But the biggest deterrent to getting a kindle is the cost. $350 at Amazon. That's without books. Then for every book you want to read, add another $9. I'm sitting here with a stack of books staring at me, books I'm eager to read (I'm reading the Heriot now) and think that I'd have to have my head examined to even think about getting a Kindle before I've finished all the books I have on the book shelves throughout the house! I'm thinking of how many books I could buy for $350.

If you have a Kindle (or even if you don't), I'd love to know your thoughts. Are Kindle-like machines the wave of the future? Or is this going to be a flash in the pan? Someone who wrote a comment on my status on Facebook said, "A house with no books is like a body with no soul." I wonder how that fits for a Kindle ..."

(Anyone who would like to see more specifics on the Kindle, check it out here.)

P.S. I saw a Kindle today. The friend with whom I had lunch had one. She had bought a leather cover for it ($30 more) and I have to admit that with a cover it seemed more like a real book and didn't seem quite as dislikable as I thought it would. However, it's not back-lit, so no reading in the dark, as I originally thought, unless you buy one of the optional clip on lights ($13 more) She also liked that she could send paperwork that she needed to read to her special address on Amazon and they would upload it to her Kindle (for 10 cents a page).

All things considered, though I can see some positive features, the Kindle mostly seems like the gift that keeps on giving--to Amazon!