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Good Reads

Which Do You Prefer: eBook or Paper Book?

I don’t know about you but I’m still on the fence about the e-book vs printed book debate.

E-books are certainly the future. For evidence of that, you need to look no further than the fact that Kerry Wilkinson’s book Locked In, has recently become the first self-published e-book to be Amazon’s top seller. Plus, my grandmother now has a Kindle so I think they’re well past the “early adopter” phase.

Ever since I got an iPad I’ve certainly been reading more e-books than paper books. I like the instant gratification of downloading a book I want as soon as I hear about it. I enjoy being able to add notes and highlights without feeling the guilt over destroying a paper book. I like that I can see the content that other people found interesting. An integrated dictionary? Awesome. And you can dive deeper into any topic by easily connecting to linked references in the book.

E-books win hands down for convenience as I can carry an entire library around to entertain me during waits at the doctor’s office, etc. I’m currently reading the Steve Jobs biography which in its paper form is massive and heavy. Certainly not something I’d carry around in my handbag. I like that I never have to worry about a reading light because there’s one built-in. Of course, setting aside the issue of eye strain. Plus I feel like I read e-books faster. Maybe I can skim the content quicker, I don’t know. Maybe it’s all in my head.

But there is still something about a printed book. E-books just don’t have that comfort factor. Snuggling up on a cold day by the fire with your iPad (or whatever gadget you choose) well, it just isn’t snuggly. And at the beach (my favorite all time place to read) I’d rather have a paper book, something I don’t mind covering with sand and sunscreen. I’ve also always been a fan of sharing books among friends and the printed book reins supreme here. Yes, you can lend Kindle books but only on specific titles and not a single Kindle book that I have is eligible for lending.

And the book store, oh I used to love going to the book store. It’s the ambiance and warmth of the place where I’d lose myself in the stacks of great literature. I could spend hours in a book store just wandering around picking up books with compelling cover art. I no longer have hours to kill in a book store (toddler!), but the sense of calm and peace I’d get browsing their aisles, I certainly don’t get that from Amazon.

For me, I don’t want to choose. I want to enjoy them both for what they each excel at. For me, there is a place in my life for both e-books and printed books.

Do you have a preference? Which side of the fence to you sit on?

February 14, 2012

Good Reads

Roald Dahl the Monkey and Me

For his first birthday, the Little Monkey’s daddy gave him a story collection by his favorite author, Roahl Dahl. These were stories that had inspired his imagination as a child. At the age of one though, no way could those books hold that child’s attention. And, honestly, I didn’t think they would now either.

But about a month ago, he’d keep looking at them on the book shelf in his room and point saying “read, read.” Certainly, their brightly colored covers attracted his attention. For about a week I kept putting him off saying “No.” “They’re too long.” “You won’t like those because they have too many words.” “Let’s read something else.” But darn if he didn’t keep pestering me to get them down and read them. So one night I did. Thinking to myself, “Right, this will show him. I’ll read two pages and he’ll get bored and want something else.”

But you know what? He didn’t get bored and I couldn’t have been more wrong. We have read these at bedtime now for the past few weeks and have already finished The Twits, The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe the Pelly and Me, The Magic Finger, Esio Trot, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, With all the short ones done, we’ve just started James and the Giant Peach.

Now, I admit that I’ve never read any of these before and so it’s been my first time reading them as well. The Roald Dahl story I’m most familiar with is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but only because of the Gene Wilder version of the movie. Sometimes as I read them I wonder about the wisdom of reading a two-year old a story about a crocodile that eats children. But in the end, these stories are full of imagination, humor, and interesting characters. And the crocodile gets his in the end.

Yes, there are some more difficult themes in these books than say, Beatrix Potter, but I think it’s my job as a parent to help my child distinguish between reality and make-believe. It’s no different from when he watches television. Like, just because Peppa Pig doesn’t wear a seatbelt doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to.

There are nuggets from some of these books that have really resonated with me. Things that a person of any age could benefit from. Take this from The Twits. When explaining why Mrs. Twit was so ugly, Dahl writes:

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

Yes, indeed. What a good message about being optimistic and happy. Maybe if we were all shiny happy people, we wouldn’t need plastic surgeons and botox.

And the touching ending from the The Giraffe the Pelly and Me:

We have tears in our eyes
As we wave our goodbyes,
We so loved being with you, we three.
So do please now and then
Come and see us again,
The Giraffe and the Pelly and me.

All you do it to look
At a page in this book
Because that’s where we always will be.
No book ever ends
When it’s full of your friends
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

The power of books to stimulate a child’s imagination, to give them characters, friends, that they can come back to again and again, is a wonder. Harry Potter did that for me as an adult.

Lucky for us, if the Little Monkey continues to enjoy and want more of Roald Dahl we can go to both the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery and the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, both of which are just down the road. Nothing like taking advantage of an opportunity to bring a great stories to life.

February 8, 2012

Good Reads

I Didn’t Think I’d Need a Dictionary to Read My Son Bedtime Stories

At my baby shower a couple of years ago, I received a full set of the Beatrix Potter books. A lovely gift. But as the ratio of words to pictures skews heavily toward words, it’s only just now that the Little Monkey has shown an interest and a willingness to sit through them. He discovered them on his bookshelf and now they’ve been all he wants at bedtime. And as he typically does, he tends to latch onto books that interest him and he wants me to read them over, and over, and over again.

So, this is how I have found myself immersed in Beatrix Potter. And, can I just say, holy cow! I thought I stumbled over my words when I read some of his dinosaur books. Nothing like trying to pronounce Euoplocephalus. It just doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

But with Beatrix Potter it’s like I’m teaching myself to read again. Is it that Potter wrote these in the early 1900s with the formal language of that era? In The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, Potter writes “Jemima complained of the superfluous hen.” In today’s modern fiction this would surely have read, “Jemima cursed the useless bitch.” Well, maybe not in a children’s book.

In The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Potter describes how “…Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat…” Disconsolately? Really? Not only could I not pronounce that, I had to look it up. Although to be fair to Miss Potter, you do get her general meaning from the other parts of the story and her drawings.

And in a classic example of how our understanding of the meaning behind words and phrases changes over time, she writes (again in The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher) that it “was all slippy-sloppy in the … back passage.” I don’t think I need to elaborate on where my mind leapt. Especially given my recent experiences.

Don’t get me wrong. I think these books are great. They have imaginative stories and drawings that have clearly captured the attention of my two-year old. I just didn’t expect that at this stage I’d be reading stories to him that gave me a vocabulary lesson as well. And that is, of course, a good thing. It has me looking forward to all the other things I’ll get to re-learn along with him when we do things like his math homework.

December 15, 2011

Good Reads

Dinosaurs + Diggers = Awesome

Penny Dale is a woman who knows her audience. Her book Dinosaur Dig has become a quick hit in our house as she has cleverly merged two subjects that little boys love (at least my little boy). What is it about dinosaurs and heavy machinery that instantly captures their attention?

Tonight, as has been the case for several nights, when I asked Little Monkey what bedtime story he wanted the answer was “Dinosaur Dig.” And, after reading it the first time and then offering to read another story, the answer was “No, Dinosaur Dig again.”

Recently, we were reading it and Little Monkey comes out and says “triceratops loader.” At first I’m not sure what he’s talking about. But then I realize that triceratops is indeed driving the loader in the story. I had not picked up on that. He’s not just been listening to me read it, he’s been analyzing it and associating elements of the story own his own. And, any book that does that for my child is pretty cool in my mind.

Books about diggers, cool.

Books about dinosaurs, really cool.

Books about dinosaurs AND diggers, awesome.

October 17, 2011

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