Reading Rainbow

I read an encouraging, and very well-written, article lately on one of the blogs I follow, Dangerous Intersection.

The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced an increase in the reading habits of Americans, the first such increase in over twenty years.

The author's commentary echoes my own thoughts in its excitement and relief at this important indicator. Like the author, I've never been able to fully understand the lack of motivation to read. Certainly, I've had friends who spend their time and energy on other activities, and I can understand how there are other ways to obtain information in our digital age, but books are special and unique in a way that other media simply isn't. Unlike television programming, which caters to the masses, the majority of literature isn't written to an agenda, a political end, or to meet the societally-acceptable standards of its time. In fact, frequently books are written to counteract these very concepts.

From a more selfish perspective, I don't think I can put it better than the author:

"Reading, I believe, is the best way we have to gain access to the world short of physically immersing ourselves in different places and cultures. Even for those who have the opportunity and resource to travel that extensively, reading provides a necessary background for the many places that will be otherwise inaccessibly alien to our sensibilities."

Kindle 2.0

I came across these photos of the (apparent) second-generation Kindle. It looks nice - slightly more ipod-esque in shape and feel - although I still feel that the screen is too small and the keyboard takes up too much space.

Check them out here:

I'll keep my lovely first generation for awhile yet. I definitely recommend the Kindle, though, for all voracious readers and especially for travelers!

Adult Material

I've been really enjoying various works of Young Adult fiction lately. I find the stories to be extremely compelling and direct in a way that standard fiction is sometimes not.

Today, I read a great quote by Steven Moffat that really speaks to this fact:

"The misconception about children's fiction is that it's lightweight or fluffy. It's about really big and important things. It's adults who like light and fluffy. Everything is big and important to a child, [so] their stories are about big and important events."

Poetry

Sometimes when I'm reading, I come across a phrase with a beauty that strikes me, and takes me out of the reading experience. Sometimes it makes me contemplative, other times sad, or emotionally in sync with the author.

While reading World Made By Hand, I encountered one of these phrases:

"The old high school complex itself was a 1970's-vintage modernist monstrosity, a U-shaped set of low-slung rectilinear boxes like ten thousand other schools around the nation from the period. Seeing the building usually made me deeply sad and even a little angry, the way that refrigerator in my garden did. Its vision of yesterday's tomorrow seemed pitiful."

It's vision of yesterday's tomorrow...

It's such an evocative phrase. It made me stop and think - what will tomorrow's people think of our vision of their present? What visions do we have today of our tomorrows that are similarly pitiful? How can we as humanity rise above the limitations we set for ourselves, and the restricted futures we dream of?

Most Amazing Library

I just saw this article on Wired.com, Jay Walker's library is a booklover's (and stargazer's, and history buff's) dream.

I would simply die. This is now the coolest library I have ever seen. Far surpassing previous holders of the title, among them Trinity College Dublin and the library in the Enchanted Castle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Feast your eyes on more photos....

66%

Well, I didn't do so well on the November Blog-month goal. In fact, I barely escaped a failing grade - 2/3 of days I successfully posted an entry. Ah well. I suppose it's a goal to have for the future!

But for the moment, I'm back! And I've brought some new fun: a POLL! See sidebar - look, it's big and prominent so you don't have to hunt. Yes, I'm venturing into the world of add-ons and fun features. So, dear readers (apparently I have 3 now! - although anonymous readers and passers-by are also very welcome), I pose a question to you:

What is your favorite book to read around the holidays? Myself, I routinely find my brain itching to read the young adult classic The Dark is Rising - one of the books in a series of 5, and an excellent story that is full of christmas-y setting. I also think of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the fight against winter without Christmas. And while I actually have never read A Christmas Carol (gasp!), it certainly comes to mind as a holiday classic.

So tell me what you think, and definitely leave a comment if you have another suggestion - I'm always looking for recommendations!

Bookish Things

Well, I am feeling a bit low for writing inspiration today, so I figure that instead i will share some of my favorite resources for reading that can be found on the internet. As you may know, I'm an avid reader. My husband may argue that "avid" is much too tame of an adjective to use.

I recently purchased a Kindle, and have found it to be a fantastic platform. While I have some minor complaints, mostly about the user interface (UI), I really enjoy the portability, the fact that your eyes feel that they are reading paper, the ability to have multiple books at your fingertips and the lightweight device - I recently finished reading Book 3 in the Inheritance Cycle, Brisingr, which weighs in 784 pages and probably about 2 pounds - and reflected how nice it was to hold the Kindle in one hand without the strain that would usually result from such a tome. I've become something of a product evangelist, and should probably contact Amazon about my commission, as I've directly influenced at least two friends to purchase one. If you are at all interested in the device, I'd be more than happy to share additional thoughts with you. I think it's a winner!

Another site that I've come to really enjoy is Goodreads, a central database to store your reading lists, books that you'd like to read in the future, and share your reviews and recommendations with friends. You can see I've embedded my current list in the sidebar of the blog. If you read frequently and would like a convenient way to catalog and share your favorites, I highly recommend it. And it's free!

Finally, what should you do with the books you've read and no longer have a need for? Well, you can certainly donate them to a local school or library, or take them into a convenient used book store. However, there are some other fabulous resources available:

• BookMooch is a place where you can swap books you no longer need with others seeking to reduce their own inventory. The availability is a bit spotty, and it's difficult to find new releases and popular fiction, but I've found some great classics as well as travel guides and general non-fiction. You add books to your inventory that you are willing to swap, and gain points as they are mooched by other users. Then, you can use these points to mooch books that you want! You pay outgoing postage (media mail) on books that you send, and do not pay for books shipped to you, so there is some out of pocket cost, but it's significantly less than you'd pay for new books, and it promotes recycling!
• If swapping your books online doesn't excite you, then you can also benefit from the internet in selling your books online for cash. I like this as a first-stop: if I have books I'd like to dispose of, I'll first input them on BookScouter to see which buyback sites will offer me the best deal. So far, I've had great luck and prompt payment from Cash4Books and Textbooks.com.

That's it for today! I hope you've enjoyed and can make use of some of these resources!