Besides roaming the high desert, our days are spent reading. There is always at least one piece of reading material within arms reach.
Since retiring, we’ve moved away from non-fiction reading (no more textbooks) and have been enjoying fiction and history.
Reading requires sources of material. While many of the walls in our house hold overloaded bookcases, the local branch of Deschutes County Library is a constant and reliable source of reading material.
E-books and audiobooks have become an inescapable part of reading. It’s nice to have a few dozen different books in hand .
Though an e-ink screen is convenient, slipping a bookmark between pages is an irreplaceable part of reading.
Bookstores and libraries, are critical outlets however, technology has forever altered that experience.
Our first visit to Powell’s City of Books is etched into memory. Something about the air in a bookstore; paper, ink and dust, if it’s the right kind of store.
Yes, a lot of our reading material is captured via a hold place through the library’s online website . . . then downloaded to an e-reader or picked up on weekly stops.
But one still needs to occasionally step into a good bookstore.
Book searches via keyboard are efficient, but nowhere near as fun as rummaging through shelves, craning your neck to read spines, and pulling an interest prospect.
The website may offer a brief preview, but that doesn’t compare to turning to a table of contents, running a finger down the index or reading random pages at will.
Online you scroll through known authors or subjects, while at a bookstore you are immersed in a genre and exposed to unknown works.
Reading research is very different in a bookstore . . . that is why we never miss the opportunity to push open the door when we come across one.
