Fairy Tale Spotlight: Books and Convenience

Remember those things called libraries? If I had begun my reading kick back before the internet, I might have made a lot of visits to one of those. In fact, I did do it for a while back when I was still in collage. There was no real reason not to. I was right there after all. But that fell apart after a while, and the books I was borrowing were not really ones worth reading.

The truth was that I had not really begun my true journey into literature yet. That would not happen for many years yet. I had read books before, but they were either school-assigned books or silly ones that I had chosen to read because I thought it would be easy. I remember some of them were the "Red Dwarf" comedy/science fiction novels, which don't take a whole lot of brain power to read.

Since I've lost track of the time, I can't properly give you a timeline, but there came a day when I decided I wanted to become a reader. The idea of getting physical books, however, seemed like a pain to me. That was when I made the decision to buy a Kindle. I wanted to start with classics to train myself to read on a higher level from the start. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't want to deal with the time it would take to get there slowly over who-knows-how-long it would take. I chose "Of Mice and Men" and "Moby Dick."

"Of Mice and Men" really wasn't that bad, but "Moby Dick" was the actual trial that I had to face. I faced it though and then kept going. I finished it and then kept looking for more. I didn't care so much about how old the book was but that the theme of it was interesting to me. Over time, I got better at reading older books and got so much more relaxed when I was reading a high level book.

But, you see, the idea of a library had passed away. I was downloading books to a digital device and reading them all in a convenient way. I was not even touching real books anymore. I might have gone to the library, but I didn't have a real reason to. Everything I wanted was conveniently placed in my hand, digitally downloaded from the vast internet.

I can't remember what book it was, but there came a point where I was running into more obscure books that I wanted that was not available on Kindle. This frustrated me, because I would have to get psychical copies of something I wanted. I also did not think a library would have these. Libraries feel more like dice rolling then a sure thing. I did not think I had a reason to go to one. I still decided to depend on the internet in some way, and it was hard... at least for a while. Amazon.com wasn't really helping much.

A sudden change came about when I discovered a rather wonderful website called ThriftBooks.com. I actually found it as an Android app first, and then later found out that it was just a website that was condensed into the form of an app. This website is like a place where obscure books go to die... and then come back to life if you happen to be looking for it. I have found so many good books there that nobody cares about anymore.

It was around this time that I started adding physical books to my reading list, but I still read my Kindle most of all. I absolutely love how much reading I am doing, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't affecting the way I think and perceive things. I'm 100% more thoughtful about everything I do, and I also consider things more deeply than I have in the past.

I don't have a problem with libraries, mind you. I even really think they are very cool, and I am sure they are perfect for some people. I just don't think they are a fit for me. I tend to look for very specific things, and a library cannot guarantee that it will have the thing that I want. There is also the object of old books being rather cheap. It doesn't really cost me much money to buy them off of Kindle or ThriftBooks.com. I'm not getting finacially killed over it, and I am getting what I want.

I am glad I live in a world where it is so easy to get the literature I am looking for. I've been having a wonderful time exploring these different worlds with all their exciting adventures. I'll probably never stop reading for as long as I am allowed to, and with how convenient it is now-a-days, there's no excuse for me to stop.

This blog was written on January 22, 2023.

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