Sunday, January 8, 2012

"Like an Alcoholic Working in a Liquor Store" - A Riff on Reading Habits

"I'm like an alcoholic working in a liquor store." That's what I say to the library patrons when I'm explaining why I don't use my Nook all that much. Which, as I gesture to the books on the library’s shelves, everyone can pretty much discern means that there are too many tangible books in my life to worry too much with those that are merely virtual.  I’m definitely a bookaholic. Though possibly, a recovering one. Am I a readaholic?  Not so sure.  I can appreciate other things in life without a book in hand. 

We've had a lot of explaining to do at the library in the two weeks since Christmas. I mean explaining how the library’s access to ebooks works. It seems that one of the hottest gifts really was the Kindle and its ilk.  Indeed, Tom got a Kindle Fire when they came out (prior to Christmas). And he also got some other nifty off-brand eReader iPad-ish thing that was a Groupon deal. My NookColor will be one year old about the time my new granddaughter arrives this spring.  So, our home is eReader rich. 

It's kind of funny.  There are some library patrons who used to read a lot but got tired of paying overdue fines on their library books.  So, they stopped using their library cards. Maybe they stopped reading or maybe they just decided they'd buy the books they wanted. These are the people who eventually got an eReader and now find that the cost of the best books is becoming prohibitive. They're easy to get, easy to store, and maybe easy to pay for.  But they can bankrupt you if you're a heavy reader and simply must have the latest titles on the Bestseller lists.

Now, about those library copies of eBooks... for our library, you must visit your library at least once.  Get your library card in good working order. Be able to access your library card online with your username and password.  And get some brief instruction from the friendly librarian on how to access the downloadable books from home.  And then, if it’s the latest and greatest on the Bestseller lists that you’re after, queue up.  Here’s the other thing I tell people who are learning about library copies of eBooks:  “Shakespeare gotta get paid.”*

Let me tell you, Folks, it's the Wild West out there as far as how these library eBook programs are going to be run in the future.  Yes, I believe library copies are essential for the good of the publishing industry and the health of readers everywhere.  Publishers tend to think they're missing out on revenue for every time a library copy is circulated rather than a copy of the same book purchased.  Yes and no.  If publishers are short-sighted enough to think that every library checkout really would equate with a purchase of that book, they are really dumb and they need to spend a few years working in a library.  For readers, a book worth purchasing is sometimes a book they’ve already read.  Or an author they’ve already read.  What’s the best value for your reading dollar?  It may be a contribution to your local library -- so they can take the risks on the new authors and the older authors who’ve lost their edge.  But let me tell you, as a responsible librarian, I don’t want to devote too much  of the taxpayers’ money or the library’s shelving “real estate” on books that aren’t worthy, either.

Will I make predictions about the fate of libraries and bookstores and reading in general?  Nah, I'm not that kind of prognosticator. I can only tell you my experience so far.  You can make your own predictions. Yes, it's anecdotal for the most part.  Though, we are trying to gather some statistics for our library's experience in the latest digital-age flood.  We’re introducing old patrons, who used to have a library card, to the wonderful world of the new library.  And our even older patrons to their new eReaders. And believe it or not, some patrons – those who’ve always had good library and reading habits -- are quite comfortable with both methods of reading: the old tangible book book and the new eReader “book”. 

Here's what I have to tell you after thirty years of hanging around the book industry: lots of books aren't worth the paper they are printed on. And lots of books that are wonderful never leave the shelf.  Am I just being an elitist?  Am I just talking about the books I like to read and damn everybody else's interests?  No, I'm talking about poorly written, poorly edited "stories" that have been committed to print.  Travesties, some of them.  And I'm in no way an elitist.  I can enjoy a well-written trashy or silly book as well as the next guy.

But I'm not here today to lambaste the publishing industry’s sins of the past or present.  I'm here to talk about my experience in the "liquor store". And riff on reading habits.

I have three problems with my personal reading habits:  1. I'm a slow reader.  2. I'm a writer/editor.  3.  I have many, many interests.

Problem 1 -- Some might say I should take a speed reading class.  Bull.  I don't want to read fast. I only want to have clones who can read everything I want to read and integrate it into the collective of Me.  I like words.  All words.  I like to savor the sentences.  I like to read them as they were written: one word at a time.

Problem 2 -- I'm a writer/editor.  If something was written well, I want to understand how it was done.  If something was written poorly, I want to analyze how it could have been made better if only they'd come to me before committing it to print.

Problem 3 -- This one perhaps I could do something about.  I've gathered books because they looked interesting at the time I was gathering.  But some of the books I've gathered, I've had for a decade or two and still have not found the time to read them.  I'm willing to at least try to reevaluate my interests based on the Me of the Now.

A month or so ago, I decided to go through my shelves and get rid of some of my books that I knew we had at the public library.  Before I totally ditched them, I put them on my library account's virtual list of things I might like to read some day.  This way, I can keep them in my peripheral vision – remembering that the books are accessible – even if they are not on my shelves.

In the chair where I sit composing this, I am facing the wall unit in the living room. I've just counted 91 books.  If I look behind me, there are another nineteen books on the tables, couches and chairs.  That's just one room of my house. And it's not even the room with the books in it.  The dining room has 148 books and journals.  I just counted.  And it's not the room with the books in it, either.  They're upstairs. Actually, in three different rooms upstairs.

I'm a bit ADDish so getting real about my interests is not the problem.  I'll always have a wide array of interests. That's okay.  But getting real about the available time I have to read is a problem.  One I'll always be battling. And that, my friends, is why I’m just like an alcoholic.


*  I first read the phrase “Shakespeare got to get paid, Son” on a t-shirt for sale on the funny and irreverent website Married to the Sea. http://www.marriedtothesea.com/021306/got-to-get-paid.jpg  I have shamelessly used my version of that phrase (substituting “gotta” for “got to”) a BUNCH of times in trying to explain to people why library eBooks don’t mean “infinite copies for infinite people”. Digital Rights Management. DRM.  

Sunday, January 1, 2012

In Which the Blog Gets Renamed...

Today is the first day of the New Year.  I'm willing to still call this -- when it is 12:08 a.m. and I have not yet gone to bed-- today, as in "Today is the first day of the New Year."

And a great day to attempt a re-launch of my blog.  I've spent the day building the page.  Fitting it out like a cozy nest.  Not bad for a start. 

The first thing I had to get right was the name of the blog.

Rejected Blog names:
Chang Chang Change – too Asian
Chopped Liver, What Am I?  -- too Jewish
Camel Toe Pick – too… Wheel of Fortune

Squirrel Diversions – “not even worthy to be on my rejection list” (rejection attributed to Tom – also attributed to Tom: “Camel Toe Pick” – though I claim the reason for rejection on that one, both the stated and assumed)
Madam Imadam – Tom’s suggestion
Sarah Palindrome – Tom’s suggestion
Squirrel Gnats – made Tom laugh (and he called it suggestive!)  But no, like in squirrels have to whack off gnats… I’m not building my case here.
  
WHO am I?  What am I about?  That’s what I need to know to name my blog.  I’m about diverting attention.  I’m about changing the subject.  I’m about being a Jane of All Trades, Master of Some.

How about JOATMOS?  Too obscure.
Jane-of-All or Janeofall or Jaynufall
Impeccably Distracted
Rebeccably Distracted

And so it was born.  Or reborn.