Working my way through the stay-home order

Working my way through the stay-home order
                        

My plan, once I found out we’d be on stay-at-home orders, was to read a lot of books.

You know, catch up on the alarmingly high stacks on my shelf and beside my bed? I figured because I couldn’t run around randomly to thrift stores in my spare time or do errands lackadaisically like I used to that I’d have more time in between my online work and my writing. But lo, my novels lay in the same pattern as before with nary a sentence read. Reading time, why hast thou forsaken me?

My book editor probably thinks I’ve forsaken her as well, but I’ve dug into the physical pages she’s printed me with a sharp red pencil, and I’m on the final stretch, I promise. She told me reading what we’ve edited on paper allows better reading, that you’ll see what flows and what doesn’t. She couldn’t have been more right. This bodes well for my readers because that means no more jibber-jabber about finishing the final edits of my book because it will be done and then you can try to read in these strangely dream-like times.

I have owned an e-reader for close to seven years. I bought it hesitantly because I love holding real paper in my hands, smoothing each page as I turn them and burying my nose in the scent that only book lovers will understand. But I’ve come to love the ease of reading on it, and I take it with me when we travel.

Buying books online and having them delivered to my Kindle was a new kind of treat because often books were on sale and I could have them immediately. But having books digitally stored is just owning an online bookshelf. I found I didn’t get to them any faster on my Kindle than I did if they were sitting with a bookmark on my nightstand.

That hasn’t stopped me from buying books I’ve looked forward to reading — on my physical shelf and my online one. Right now I have some powerhouse best sellers that were delivered to my e-reader, as well as several I had to physically have in my hands.

The power of reading is a strong drug. The other day I turned on my Kindle after having come across several books I was waiting to buy to be put on sale. She flickered on after I’d charged her, and I settled in to read. But after only 10 minutes the battery was blinking red and she powered off. I thought maybe I hadn’t charged it fully, so I plugged it in overnight and tried again the next day. And the same thing happened. After several minutes her battery was drained.

I looked at all the books I hadn’t read sitting in a little line waiting for me to read them. I thought about all the places she’d gone with me in my travel bag: Mexico, Spain, Greece, Hungary, New England. She was a trusty friend, but now she needed replaced.

I looked up Kindles and all the updates and newest forms they’d taken on since 2013 and was overwhelmed with choices. But it didn’t take long for me to know which one I wanted. And just today in between writing this column and scheduling posts for my clients, a brand-new Kindle Paper White has been delivered to my doorstep. She’s waiting in the box for the grand unveiling, and as soon as I have time — after an online meeting, an email newsletter I need to create and send, and several more posts for clients — I’ll gently unbox her.

I’ll transfer all my books from my old Kindle to the new one and queue up “The Book of Flora,” “The Wanderers,” “The Incendiaries” and “The View from Flyover Country,” plus several more that have been waiting my attentive eye. And I will let myself read to my heart’s content.


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