Books

Dear Readers,

I am amazed the number of people who notice if you are reading a book.  Not a E-reader of some sort, a book.  Recently I was at the airport waiting for my flight and pulled out my book to get started on it.  I had 3 different people comment on the book.  One because they were surprised that anyone read real books any more and the other two because the recognized the author.

Of those two we had a lovely conversation about books, who we like to read etc...  and then I returned to reading, but it got me wondering.  Will we have conversations in the future if we all end up with e-readers.  Nothing says I want to be left alone more than using any sort of device.  You don't know if the other person is reading or doing something else.  So you don't ask for fear of interrupting.

That idea saddens me as most of readers love to talk about story lines talk about why we would read it again, and talk about and argue over which characters we love and hate.  It was something that connects us when we may have nothing else in common.  It is a starting point for more than one friendship that I have.  It is also the bases for what I do for a living.   I have started more than one conversation with a guest at my bookstore with "that is a great book," and then going from there.

Books are a great conversation starter and I feel we are losing that.  I know that e-readers are here to stay, but I wish the was a way to know what someone was reading so I could start a conversation with them also.

Happy Reading,