A quick glimpse into An's mind

Usually, I'm late because I've got too much classwork (but I'm free 'til September) or I've got writer's block.  This time around, I've had too much crap in my brain.  I wrote overlong posts that even I didn't want to read by the end, nevermind hoping anyone else would.  I'll share the bit that I like from Monday's post, and then tell you why e-readers have won me over.

My son is arriving from Texas tonight.  This threw me into a fiction finding frenzy.  I'm reading, and loving, The Blue Girl, by Charles de Lint, and wondered if he'd like it, too.  Actually, I so relate to the main character, I considered making him read it whether he liked it or not.  Then there's Kelley Armstrong's The Awakening (Darkest Powers), and Cassandra Clare's City of Bones (Mortal Instruments).  How many female protagonists can a young man take?  Maybe he'd dig Unleashed by Kris Reisz?  Speaking of Reisz, wasn't him compiling a list of young adult fiction for guys?  I'd look it up but how could I forget Elsewhere?

 This book redefined my youth (don't let the Aug 2004 date fool yah).  Sure, I had Moonheart (which came to mean more to me as grew older) and then War for the Oaks: A Novel, but Elsewhere really marked a place where I became an urban fantasy fan.  More, some inner part of me said, This is who I am.

OK, I never hopped a train to Bordertown where The World meets Faerie.  Not physically.  Emotionally, I'd been squatting there since I was 12; Elsewhere, and the follow up Nevernever, gave it a name and me someone to hang with while he blew up his life and found himself.

...I could go on about that, but I'll follow the twist my thoughts took.

Now about e-readers.


They're neat.

....I'm tempted to leave it there because the discussion about it seems...pointless.  And this from a chick who likes to discuss.  The people who insist they're here, and they'll do to books with CDs did to albums and MP3 players did to Discmen (who was the winner who came up with that name?) are probably right.  Then again. there may be enough people who insist that you'll take their physical, paper books away when you pry them out of their dead, cold hands to make e-readers additional technology rather than replacement tech.  We won't know 'til we know.

Years ago, my hubby bought a handheld computer and I thought it was a dumb waste of money.  It came in handy, though, when we were called out of town suddenly and I was able to buy a couple of ebooks.  Some time later, our toddler broke it and, other than my being still annoyed about the money, neither of us missed it.    We still went to bookstores (or ordered online) and libraries, and barely batted a lash when the Kindle came out.  OK, I liked the hype.  I batted a lash, until the price drew my hard stare.  I was even excited about the iPad, but I'm spending my rent money (or two car payments if I were to actually buy a car, or...well, input your own "this is way more important to me than a gadget" bill) for tech that makes tech I already own portable.  When I can fully use it as a laptop without Steve Jobs keeping me free from porn, I'll think about it.

Then my husband got me a Sony Pocket Reader  on sale for Mother's Day, I...was OK.  With two ebooks waiting for review, I thought that would be a good thing, and at the price, I could barely argue.  He loaded all the backup Kelley Armstrong books that he had bought (ok, cool, but I've read all the hard copies several times and wasn't about to do so again) and his Star Wars ebooks (I haven't read a Star Wars book since Mara Jade was first introduced, what? 20 years ago?).  It was more interesting when a series of links while net surfing landed me at the Ellora's Cave free short stories page.  Woohoo!  Now I could really try out erotica (if I only I could stop editing it as I read).

Long story slightly less long, if you're ever in place where you need 1500 (or 300 for those of us with the cheap version) books, you'll be too screwed to read.  If you discover, like I just did, that the "First Time in Print!" stamp that St. Martin put on the book you bought does not mean "first book in the series" (jerks), you could spend a couple of minutes finding, buying, and downloading the right book.  Quick and easy....assuming there's an e-version of the book.  I guess I'll go look.