It's not a book and yet...

As a writer I am also an avid reader. I read pretty much anything. In fact, one of my earliest memories is of my father declaring a certain tabloid off limits at home after he caught me, his 10 year old, engrossed in a particularly graphic account of a hometown murder. (I’m pretty certain he continued to purchase that paper although it never crossed our doors again). But I digress.

I enjoy fiction. My favorites are stories that begin with impossible scenarios and culminate in happy-ever-after endings. I like the feel of a book’s pages and have been known to ignore the dreaded paper cut until after the final chapter. Before starting the story, I read the back cover, from synopsis to author’s bio, the reviews, publisher info, copyright date, acknowledgements, and, in inspirational fiction, the scripture verse. When I get to the end of the story, (usually lying in bed with the blanket shielding the reading light from my sleeping spouse), I mentally relive the final scenes before setting the book aside. I love books.

So it was with a great deal of frustration that I recently tossed aside my last three selections without reading them. Why? Because these “eyes of a certain age” could not decipher the words well enough to allow me to lose myself in the story. Has anyone noticed that today’s printed material have a smaller font, paler inks, and flimsier, grayer papers compared with, say, a decade ago? I checked with a friend at the newspaper who confirmed the trend as a money-saving measure brought about by escalating sales of electronic books and the decrease in print material, a trend not likely to change. So, resigned to the change, I purchased an e-reader (mine rhymes with Cook) and downloaded a selection of novels.

I'm finding that e-books have their shortcomings. I can’t lend or borrow them at will, they don’t promote sensory satisfaction and I can’t stack them for a pedestal or arrange them by the color of the jacket. But I can increase the font and adjust the backlight to relieve the stress on these tired, aging eyes. Also, no paper cuts. I am satisfied.

Max