Recently, I've been stricken with the need to reread some old favorites. I lay some of that blame on the recommendations many of you made on Facebook about your favorite books. It reminded me of how many great books I've read through the years, which meant I needed to dive back into those stories so I could enjoy them all over again.
Hence a late night visit to my library's online site to check out some ebooks. Imagine my surprise when I find out that they have no record of either of my library cards. (Ohio has set up our libraries so that the ebooks are available to anyone with a library card to a participating library, which is pretty much all of them.)
It had been so long since I went to the library that they let both cards expire, which meant I couldn't check anything out until I'd physically visited a branch and signed up for a new card. There was a time in my life when I rarely went more than two to three days without visiting its hallowed halls. Now, it's been so long that I don't even know how long my card was inactive for.
Part of that is because life got so crazy while I was in the military what with basic, followed by more training before deploying overseas. It meant visiting the library or even a bookstore was no longer as easy as it once was. It was a luxury I could only indulge in rarely.
For me, the ebook revolution came at the perfect time and allowed me devour my favorite addiction even while waiting for a black hawk helicopter to carry me to my next mission or the next base I was staying at. It meant I could have hundreds or thousands of books at my finger tips. No more picking which book to take with me or being bored midway through an airplane trip because I'd finished all of my reading material.
That, plus the easily affordable price of many indies now means a majority of my reading is done by buying books on Amazon. It made me forget how walking into a library is like visiting a well loved friend- one I haven't seen in far too long. It was such a welcome feeling that I ended up checking out four books, despite planning on getting them through the ebook library. Here's hoping that I remember to return these.
I love the smell of books. Don't you?
Hence a late night visit to my library's online site to check out some ebooks. Imagine my surprise when I find out that they have no record of either of my library cards. (Ohio has set up our libraries so that the ebooks are available to anyone with a library card to a participating library, which is pretty much all of them.)
It had been so long since I went to the library that they let both cards expire, which meant I couldn't check anything out until I'd physically visited a branch and signed up for a new card. There was a time in my life when I rarely went more than two to three days without visiting its hallowed halls. Now, it's been so long that I don't even know how long my card was inactive for.
Part of that is because life got so crazy while I was in the military what with basic, followed by more training before deploying overseas. It meant visiting the library or even a bookstore was no longer as easy as it once was. It was a luxury I could only indulge in rarely.
For me, the ebook revolution came at the perfect time and allowed me devour my favorite addiction even while waiting for a black hawk helicopter to carry me to my next mission or the next base I was staying at. It meant I could have hundreds or thousands of books at my finger tips. No more picking which book to take with me or being bored midway through an airplane trip because I'd finished all of my reading material.
That, plus the easily affordable price of many indies now means a majority of my reading is done by buying books on Amazon. It made me forget how walking into a library is like visiting a well loved friend- one I haven't seen in far too long. It was such a welcome feeling that I ended up checking out four books, despite planning on getting them through the ebook library. Here's hoping that I remember to return these.
I love the smell of books. Don't you?
No comments:
Post a Comment