I’m still in the mode of pretending to be a good techie-of-a-certain-age. I love my Kindle, I really do. And I don’t know where I’d be without the wonders of Amazon (besides richer and with a much shorter to-read list, and of course feeling not-guilty about being one of the evil millions contributing to the demise of Borders bookstore). However, I must confess to some recent, very non-techie self-talk–no, not even talk, merely gut-level knowing.
It started out promising: doodling around on amazon.com, I discovered that there was a newish Lord Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane novel by the bravely competent Jill Paton Walsh, who completed one of Dorothy L. Sayers’s manuscripts (Thrones, Dominations) and then followed up with a Wimsey/Vane novel of her own, A Presumption of Death. Determined fan that I am, I searched for the new novel on my Kindle, found that it cost $12.99, and decided to download a sample (as if I might not need to read the whole book). Meanwhile, I searched my local libraries (yes, online) and requested the new novel, The Attenbury Emeralds, through interlibrary loan. All was going well…I started reading the sample…and then caught myself thinking, “I can’t wait until the REAL BOOK comes.”
There you have it. Determined digital-age woman slips again. It’s not just about the $12.99. (I’m a sucker for $0.00 and $0.99 Kindle books, by the way.) It’s about savoring every page: the copyright page, the dedication, the dust-jacket blurbs. It’s about being able to flip back a few chapters to catch the clue I missed the first time (crucial in a mystery, no?). It’s about having to renew the darn thing if I take too long to read it, or having to pay the fine if I forget the renewal part. It’s about having smiling friends in high places (the library circulation desk). It’s about absolute certainty that printed books will not die anytime soon, and that technology is wonderfully useful.
p.s. disclosure: I’m headed to amazon.com right now to double-check the book titles and Kindle book price.
