What are you reading?

Most of my friends are avid readers, the others wouldn't read a book of you paid them. Funny right?! Books circulate constantly. I've even had people bribe me with cookies so they could get the book next.

There is a library app where you could get books downloaded for free. Perhaps you know about this. Your librarian should be able to set you up.

Isn't it great to learn new things!!

Yes I know all the apps, however I spend too many hours with screens as it is.
A hard copy book in my hand is relaxation to my brain, even if it's a textbook.
An on-line book tells my brain "you're working" even if I'm reading fiction.
Go figure!
Sue

I agree with you. I like to hold the book in hand also. Part of the experience of reading.

One of my Literature college professor said you should not only feel the book, binding and pages, but you should also inhale the scent. It's interesting I remember things from way back. That must of made an impression on me.

Wow, that sounds great! Can you show something you made?

I once downloaded a ton of old magazines when I was spending lot of time on the phone and had hands-free time. I'm currently moving several decades worth of Harper's, Century, Atlantic, et alia to my tablet for peripatetic reading. A Christmas gift from my brother, some years back, was the DVD set of every page of The New Yorker until that year so those too are non-book choices but a great way to read old John McPhee essays, previously-missed M.F.K. Fisher, Patricia Highsmith and what I think of as the Usual Suspects.

The page facsimiles are interesting. The ads of a bygone American culture, the On the Avenue columns that sparkled with wit (and understanding of grammar, RIP) and reportage through the war years are a journey into a kind of painterly America prose style that, in my opinion, is sorely missed in current authors. And was great 'escape reading' during lockdown.

@lizbetor22
I agree, American Dirt was an excellent book. It was fiction but I am sure it relied heavily on real life experiences of people making the journey to the United States.

Generally, my genre of choice is historical fiction. I know more now about WW2 than I ever learned in school.

@artist01 Our library not only has a website but you can get ebooks on loan from them for free. I have done this a couple of times. When my daughter wanted to buy me a nook a few years ago I refused because I liked having a book in my hands but now I have learned to appreciate ebooks. I like that I can read in bed without supplemental lighting and if there are many characters and I want to check back on one of them it's easy to do a search and see the earlier occurrences of that character. I also do subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. For $10 a month you can borrow as many books as you want and keep them for as long as you want. For me, that's a small price to pay for all of those books. You do have to choose from their selection of books but I can almost always find some interesting ones.

I also read "No Ordinary Time" about FDR and Eleanor, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It was excellent. I did not like history when I was in school so had little recollection of what was taught. This was really enlightening and I will probably read some more presidential biographies. My daughter got me started on these and sent me the FDR book.
JK

Hello @contentandwell
I do appreciate your response regarding books, libraries, ebooks, etc. I subscribe to an ebook company too, Kobo Books, as well as Indigo Book club, where I get lots of reward points for my book purchases. Both are great, but I prefer REAL books these days. I spend a lot of time on my computer and smartphone, reading, reading, reading, and it's nice not to have to gaze at any more screens than I have to. Our library is similar to yours, in that we can borrow ebooks,videos, magazines, newspapers, and "real" books, etc., and all for free. We don't even have a fee to pay for membership, and they deliver to me! Can't beat that!
Warm regards, Laurie 📚

I feel that too, so much screen, and then to relax: a real book, pages to physically turn, smelling the ink, seeing differences in some letters, and shedding light on it instead of staring into it.

I picked up a Readers Digest Condensed Book, volume 2-1969 from one of the neighborhood little libraries on my walk. Within it is Mayo-The Story of My Family and My Career. This was written by Dr. Charles Mayo, son of the founder of Mayo Clinic who passed away in 1968.

It was a very interesting and well-timed read. The tone and text are so personable, it feels like a letter is being written to the lucky readers. It is interesting to know that the family legacy was felt as both awesome and weighty in being the son (and a doctor no less) of the famous Mayo Brothers. I will need to find the full version in the library.

I just finished reading "Dillinger - Under the Gun and ON the Run". It's very short read and newly published paperback penned by Lowell Peterson (2022). It's a brief story about the notorious gangster John Dillinger (1903-1934).

I've always been fascinated by Dillinger and his band of bank robbers (no...I don't own any Tommy sub-machine guns) probably because we live only a few hours away from where the infamous shot out took place at "Little Bohemia Lodge" in Manitowish Waters, WI., (April 22, 1934). It's also the location of the filming of "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger (2009). In fact, we (even my lovely bride of 45 years) are so fascinated by the place that we had dinner there again last night (Nov. 12, 2022). Oh....and yes, you can still see bullet holes in the windows!