It's for a friend...I swear

Remember how there used to be CD stores? Whenever I would go to buy a cd, particularly in those cozy ones not owned by giant evil companies, I felt fairly certain that I would be judged on my purchase. So much so, in fact, that many times my purchasing decisions would be based on what I felt was "cooler" rather than what I liked better. Now though, I am fully awesome so it doesn't matter what I buy, I make it cool. The coolest.

I feel the same way when I go to purchase a video game. I must buy the most awesome game so I can fit in with the most awesome gaming crowd. I have yet to gain enough clout in the gaming industry to breathe the breath of awesomeness into any game I like. Plus, the games I like are totally lame so it's an uphill battle.

Apparently this is a feeling that rears its ugly head at small, quaint books stores run by cool looking indie kids. I dropped by today to pick up a copy of the new Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, and the only way I can describe the way it felt for me is this:

EMBARRASSED.

These books are pretty much the lowest quality of literature out there, and I had to face those super cool book kids and ask them to please get it from behind the counter for me. I must now hang my librarian head in shame. It's not for me, I swear.

As I was paying, I felt my face getting redder, just like when I had to buy feminine products as a teenager, or when I decided that VIVA PINATA was the video game I had to have, or any other such humiliating purchasing experience. I might as well just have written LOSER across my forehead in permanent marker. OH THE HUMANITY. Then, to make matters worse, I felt I had to say something, anything to redeem myself.

"I hate these books," I tell the guy, "But the kids love them.."

"uh, okay." He says, looking at me like yeah sure lady.

I left, fairly sure I can never muster the courage to enter that store again.

This blog so far has had very little dogs in it, only books and musings. Today I will briefly mention my dog. I came home today focused on writing about my humiliating book store experience but Pigpen decided that she had to sit on the keyboard so I would be forced to pay attention to her. See below for details:

WINNER

The Reinvention of the AudioBook

Pappy brought this up and inspired this post regarding yet another form of book!

I got interested in audiobooks a few years back when I was commuting to Pittsburgh while working on my MLS. I have never looked back. Audiobooks have come so very very far from where they used to be I feel that I can now enjoy the quality of an "olde timey radio" show in the comfort of my daily commute. I don't even have to worry about switching twelve cds or tapes because I just put the mp3s on my ipod. AMAZING!! I look forward to hopping in the car and hearing what's going to happen next. It has made for some of the most thrilling car rides of my life. (for serious!)

My favorites so far in terms of story and recording quality:

The Help: Kathryn Stockett

The Graveyard Book: Neil Gaiman

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

If it's been a while since you've done the whole audiobook thing, I encourage you to give it a try.

The Evolution of the Book

O Day of days when we can read! The reader and the book, either without the other is naught.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It would be naive and closed-minded of me to say that being a "librarian," in the sense of the word most people think of, is a job I will ever successfully master . Like many things, it is a job that will continuously change and mold itself to the needs of it's patrons. Books have done the same thing over hundreds of years, changing with both technology and availability advances and demands.

When it comes to literature, what exactly does the future hold? So long as people have thoughts in there hearts, they will be putting words in print, or type, or whatever medium may arise to suit the occasion. The written word is the language of the soul. It is far easier to be honest on paper where it can be shared in a less personal but somehow more intimate manner than words spoken aloud. It gives the reader time to process and to reflect upon what they have impressed into their minds and memories through sight. No response is necessary, only thought and imagination.

In 1455, Johannes Gutenburg’s first printed version of the Bible started a revolution that helped books evolve in such a way that made them more accessible to the masses. The need to write and record things has been a part of human nature and culture for thousands of years. No matter what the medium, whether silk, clay, stone, scrolls, or pages, people have found a ways to write and to read. As long as we have writers we will have readers and as long as we have readers, we will have writers.

The advent of EReaders like the Kindle and the Nook and the IPad are helping the printed word in continuing its progress on the evolutionary ladder. It is hard to imagine clusters of monks gathered around candles scribing entire books by hand when we can simply press “buy now” and the money disappears from our accounts and we can read whatever books we want in a matter of seconds.

What's next?

I can guess, but I can't begin to assume to know the vast possibilities technology and literature hold for the future. I can say for certain that there is a future for libraries and librarians, and I expect them to continue to evolve and survive, as the book has and as writers and readers have done in order to acquire and distribute knowledge, encourage free thinking, and share thoughts and ideas.

"Some Pig."

I have always loved Charlotte's Web. Something about that cute little piggy and the spider who saves his bacon just warms my heart. I was musing about it to myself this morning and it occurred to me that if E.B. White had decided to write Charlotte’s Web present day, Wilbur might have ended up with a Facebook page. Or maybe in 1948 E.B. White conceived the idea of social networking through spiderwebs, as opposed to the WORLD WIDE WEB. Not only did she write one of the best children’s stories of all time, but she was a science fiction genius! Okay, I'm stretching, but it's not unprecedented.

In 1865 Jules Vern wrote From the Earth to the Moon and essentially described with nearly flawless accuracy the 1969 Lunar landing, sans clever taglines, right down to the rockets. He did this because he was a genius, (duh!) and because he applied what he knew about math, science, and explosives in 1865 to his writing and speculating process.

And now they finally found the diamond planet that the evil queen tried to steal in Rainbow Brite back in 1985. Genius!

I have always liked science fiction as a genre, despite it's ability to terrify the crap out of me. In 1942, Arthur C. Clarke (2oo1: A Space Odyssey) published his three "laws" regarding his observations about science thus far:

1) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2) The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3) Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

4) Aliens and Super-advanced smart computers are scary. (Okay, this is mine. It's based on years of reading science fiction like Space Odyssey and H.G. Well's War of the Worlds and watching Predator one too many times)

Green Eggs and Good Omens

I cracked open an egg today and the white was this odd bright yellow neon color. Thinking I was nuts, I cracked open a second one and low and behold: normal. Apparently this isn't too uncommon and the overwhelming internet response was DON'T EAT IT. Since I didn't feel like taking on a challenge today, I didn't. ( Good story, right?)

Right now I'm reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman and am enjoying it immensely. If you like Neil Gaiman, Martin Millar, Terry Pratchet and/or the Apocalypse you'll probably enjoy it more than I did, and here's why; As much as I hate to confess this I am a speed-reader and I sometimes might neglect to read every word on the page. With this book, it's even worse because I notice the hilarious footnotes and can't seem to keep my eyes from straying towards the bottom of the page. Then I spend way too much time trying to locate the aster-ix* that applies to the footnote I've already read before going back to making actual progress. Now I love footnotes as much as the next person, (they make reading fun!) but they slow down my speed reading tremendously. These days it's all about progress, and I love progress!

If you end up reading and liking Good Omens, along those lines I would also recommend American Gods, by Neil Gaiman and Stephen Brust's, To Reign in Hell. You're welcome!

* Apparently this is the proper spelling, according to spell-check. Who knew?!