I finally broke down and bought a Kindle reader, the less expensive WiFo one, not the 3G. I have an encrypted wireless router, so this was fine for my needs. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like the no back-lit screen, the light weight, so many free books or ones for 99 cents, and the ease in using it.
It's actually nice not to try to hold pages open in tightly bound books when I read, or have used books I buy at Amazon and have read stack up until they can be donated to the library. Since I do keep some books now I don't need to search for bookshelf space, either. A feature I really like is that once a book is read, when from Amazon, you can removed it from your Kindle but it stays in your Kindle archive to be downloaded free again later. The folders for putting books into categories also makes the list you do want on hand far more manageable.
Right now I'm not able to read as much as I want to, either books or online. PT for my whiplash (which still gives me headaches) and now speech therapy coming up for a problem with my vocal chords is pretty overwhelming. My energy is so limited that I'm crashing more than I'm doing anything else.
And finally, an older poem to share:
Runaway
Bare on the stained mattress,
hair spread beneath her
like the flame of a rising sun,
this runaway, this woman fleeing
her midlife, waits for the crazy man.
He lives in a jade forest,
cabin carved with his fingernails.
They've spied on him since Nam,
he's told her, aiming satellites close
in to listen, painting cryptic messages
across the sky with their jets.
She doesn't care.
She half believes him, wants
to believe him in her rush to escape
her glass house by the sea.
For that moment,
that sweep into another life
in her wish for a new man inside her,
a fresh mouth suckling her breast
she has given up everything, but
he carves deeper into the forest.
The voices say she's the enemy, too.
Thorns cut her feet leaving.
Judas kisses away her tears.
A cross marks the road home.
Pris Campbell
©2006
Published in The Cliffs: Soundings,
March 2008
7 comments:
I have several friends who got Nooks and Kindles for Christmas. I'm holding out for an iPad. :)
Enjoyed the poem.
Collin, I'm greedy . I want both. I have trouble reading with back lighting so that's why the kindle, but a laptop is just too heavy to even lug easily from room to room. An ipad is perfect. Maybe next year:-)
Thanks about the poem.
Great poem..the contrasts and
implied backstories.
My older daughter asked for one
for Christmas. The change must
be inevitable. ...and the big chains
losing millions not selling service
and startup for the seniors, who
consume bestsellers a lot..
On Runaway
I love the analogy of the woman fleeing her midlife waiting for the crazy man....or was a crazy man awaiting a woman in midlife? hmmm?
Thanks, Jim, and yes, online readers are already changing the face of reading as we know it.
lorely, thanks. That all crucial comma tells us who's waiting for whom in this poem, but he was most likely waiting for her , too:-)
I like the poem. Reminds me a little of those crazy edge-of-the-earth stories from the late '60's and early '70's that are still weaving along, surfacing decades later to tell what happened. There's no end to it. :)
No e-reader for me so far. Not sure if there's one in my future -- I've been resisting pretty stubbornly -- I tend to be slow at taking on new gadgets.
I never thought I would buy one, either, but haven't given up paper books by any means. Amazon wants you to buy all books from them meaning no bargains like getting their used ones. I also just found out that while other gadgets such as Ipad are part of the library lending program of books (an intermediate program lets you download for the checkout period, then the book disappears), Kindle hasn't adapted to accept this program. Again, they want purchases from them. I hope they adapt or they're going to start losing business and I do prefer no back-lighting.
Thanks about the poem. Inspired by the actions of a hippie who came to 'bloom' later in life.
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