Saturday, February 19, 2011

On Digital Books

Tuesday: Library


I'm a reader.
I always have been* - my darling mother maintains it's because she read to me a lot when I was but a wee bairn** - and it baffles me when I encounter people who just DON'T read***. I can't think of anything better than spending the day with a good book. I always have one or two on the go - at the moment I'm reading I Never Knew That About London, Nerd Do Well, and The Swan Thieves - and it's gotten to the point where, unless the weather is truly foul, I refuse to watch movies or TV until after 5pm. Somehow I feel like a day watching TV is wasted while a day reading? most definitely not.

When Craig and I were in Pauanui and it rained every damn day (save one) he and his brothers would sit in the lounge and bemoan their boredom. I on the other hand, always had a book.
But they're not readers. And that's fine too! I don't believe that you HAVE to be a reader to have a well rounded life, I just think that it saves a lot of time trying to think of something to do.

I also love books.
I love having a heaving bookshelf and the rate at which I buy books? is frankly terrifying. I love choosing which edition of a book to buy based on the cover, I love the smell of second hand books, and I love dogeared corners and a lined spine.
One of the worst moments I've had was when we were packing up our flat in London and I had to decide which books to keep, which to ship home, and which to give away. Craig didn't understand how this process lead to me bawling on the floor, surrounded by piles upon piles of books, but I think he now gets that, to me at least, books are beloved****.

I was loath to use eBooks. I thought that nothing would replace paper and ink. I guess it still hasn't but, since buying my iPad and downloading the Kindle app on both the iPad and my iPhone, I'm coming around to the idea.
I find that I'm reading more than ever. Having the Kindle app on my iPhone means that I can hold my phone and read a few pages while I'm waiting in line at a shop, or if work happens to have a quiet moment, or if I'm at rehearsal and not due on stage for awhile. During the era of giant bags I always carried a book with me, but now that I've downsized my bag and carry my DSLR with me there is room for little more than a slim paperback.
But on my phone? I have 11 different books. Autobiographies, thrillers, classics, two memoirs about forensic anthropology, and a couple of other novels.
Oh and I love that I can read weighty tomes without having to worry about holding them up (or accidentally dropping them on my face). My arms remain noodle-y but I'm okay with that.

By far, though, my favourite thing about eBooks is footnotes.
Footnotes in a real life book make me feel anxious (crazy alert!). I see them at the bottom of the page and I scan the page of text to find where exactly that pesky little asterisk is***** trying my hardest not to read ahead. Once found I make a mental note of approximately where on the page it occurs and only THEN can I actually read the page in peace. So annoying. In digital books you don't notice the footnote until you're right up on it because they aren't REALLY footnotes, they are end notes. And you don't have to flick through the pages to get to them, you click on the asterisk or the number and the book jumps to the appropriate end note and once you've read it, you tap the asterisk/number again and it takes you right back to the page you were reading before the aside. Like magic. It's much less stressful.

So I guess I'm coming around to this whole digital book thing.
I doubt I'll ever make the leap to being completely book-free but then ... I used to think the same thing about CDs. Now I don't think I own a single one.

The world is wonderful place. But there is a lot of waiting around. I'm glad I will always have a book with me.

Secondhand books



* though I do remember there being a time when we were FORCED to read for half an hour before bed. I'm so thankful my parents did that.
** nope. Don't know why I decided to use that phrase.
*** Craig isn't a reader. He does read if he likes a book (he recently read all of Danny Wallace's books for example, and he's read the Harry Potter series) but it's not his default activity.
**** I think we ended up spending about £60 to ship 4 packages of books to New Zealand.
***** I also find it slightly ironic that they bug me so much and yet I use them so often.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Just another manic Monday

Asos Black Basque heels
asos black basque wedge heels


Sometimes it's a Monday & the weather is grey & you didn't sleep well & everything feels like it's going just a bit wrong.
Sometimes it's valentines day & your sweetheart decides to go rockclimbing instead.
Sometimes you leave your damn keys at home.

But then sometimes your valentine walks half an hour out of his way to drop his key off to you, he sends you lyrics to a romantic song*, you have healthy frozen food and wine at home so you don't have to cook, and you have pretty new shoes.

Then, suddenly life doesn't seem that annoying after all.



* Not like the time he told you that your song was Whole Lotta Rosie. He did not realise it was about how large this lovely Rosie was. And he was very embarrassed. So naturally, I bring it up a lot. So funny. He's adorable.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

365 in 2011

Oh Darling 365

Sunday: Heading out in the rain for filming and rehearsal
Sunday
Headed out in the rain to a day of filming (Tetris Cops) and rehearsal (Much Ado About Nothing).

Monday: Parakeet Necklace!!
Monday
My parakeet necklace arrived! And my obsession with obscure jewellery continues.

Tuesday: Heading home on the Train
Tuesday
Catching the train home from work - I only catch it a couple of times a week but it NEVER runs on time.

Wednesday: Having a drink with my Petra and my Craig
Wednesday
Craig and I headed out for an after-work drink with our favourite Petra.

Thursday: Golden Hour
Thursday
The sun is rising later and later. I now see "magic hour" in the mornings.

Friday: Sunrise
Friday
And the sunrise. I get to see the sunrise.

Saturday: Movies on a relaxing night
Saturday
After my only free day for the next couple of weeks? I chose to curl up with Craig and DVDs. I chose The Runaways, he chose Going The Distance, and I chose - but we didn't get to watch - Never Let Me Go.


&


Sans fringe
Some days it's just too damn warm to wear my fringe down.