Of Libraries and Readers by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I have a new file on my thumb drive, one that I probably needed years ago. Its title is Book Inventory. I just started it.

In fact, I’ve only completed two bookcases, and one of those only has one shelf of books, the rest are – well, you know me – Nativities, something I have mentioned many times before, but I have at least as many books as those, far more than I thought, as in duplicates.

In fact, I started the inventory because I had gone in search of something to read and I found a copy of a book I knew I had in the other room. And a further search netted me a couple more duplicates.

Thus far, I have found a total of eight books that are duplicates. In one case, I have two duplicates of the same book! Yikes!

The thing is, I knew a while ago I could probably use an inventory because I somehow ended up with two volume 3’s and no volume 8 of a series I wanted. I have since rectified that mistake, but I clearly don’t remember which books I do and don’t have when I’m out shopping thrift stores. I just see a title and or author I like and grab it, totally forgetting I already have it.

Though what I think is worse is passing up buying a book because I think I have it, only to discover I don’t. And I think I’ve done that recently as well. Still haven’t finished the inventory, so not sure, but I don’t remember seeing that book when I was looking for something to read.

I also wish inventories could be done easier. Right now, I’m taking down the titles and authors' longhand then transferring that information to my computer. Any suggestions to make it easier? Faster?

It was bad enough that I had to have my helper get down on the floor and write down the titles and authors on the bottom shelf for me. And then I made the mistake of just writing down the series I had and didn’t list each volume. I ended up having to go back and get each volume’s title for three different series’ the other night when I was working on the inventory.

If my Harry Potter series had been on the bookcases done so far, I wouldn’t have had so many problems, but on these, I barely could name the series title, each volume title escaped me, in case I wasn’t even sure how many were in the series.

And to be honest, I did write down each title for two other series’ but those two don’t have a series title. They had all been written as stand-alone’s but well, two of those titles feature a character by the name of Kit Fielding and the rest feature the character, Sid Halley. And all by the same author except the last Sid Halley one, which was written by the author’s son. I am a fan of both Dick and Felix Francis. I think I have most of Dick’s novels and am now working on Felix’s, so I really need that list to keep track of what I already have.

This is not to say that I’m going to get rid of all my duplications, because, well, I know I have several duplications between my hardcopy and digital books.

I got my reader in the first place so I wouldn’t have to lug around my scriptures and a few other church publications every Sunday. I still have those books in hardcopy, and will keep them, but they are also on my reader.

I also have The Complete Works of Shakespeare both in hardcopy and on my reader. The hardcopy I acquired back in college for a course I took on – you guessed it – Shakespeare. I got the digital version when my book club discussed reading some of his plays, and I’ll be danged if I was going to lug that tome around!

I bought that reader to save me from having to lug books around and while I didn’t mind lugging one small book to my book club meetings, big books are another issue.

Though that brings me to a question I recently saw in Facebook asking people if they preferred hardcopy or digital books.

 The question was worded in such a way that gave me the impression the asker expected everyone to answer one or the other, and not pick both. But both have their place! I use both, and I’m as likely to add a book to my reader as to buy a hardcopy book. I like both!

How about you? Which do you prefer? Or do you use both?

Happy writing everyone!

Movies VS Books by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I feel like I just waded through a horrific war. Oh wait, I just read from “The Sorcerer’s Stone” clear through to “The Deathly Hallows”!

That is what reading a good book is supposed to do.

It certainly isn’t like when Harry Potter “entered” Tom Riddle’s diary and learned of the night Riddle accused Hagrid of killing Myrtle, or rather Hagrid’s pet Arogog, though that manner was a fascinating idea, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Sometimes I wish I could do that. Since I’m such a slow reader, I wouldn’t mind being able to “watch” what happened instead. The only problem is that movies do not follow the book very closely, and the later HP movies are quite frankly horrendous in how far from the facts they deviate!

I have never actually finished watching the movies. It was bad enough when they introduced those stupid talking shrunken heads in “Prisoner of Azkaban,” and taking Dobby’s big part out “Goblet of Fire” and giving it to Neville? (Outrageous!) But the beginning of . . . you know what, I can’t remember which one it was but it started with that made up scene where Harry was chatting up that waitress in that café and Dumbledore showed up? Where did that idea come from?

All of the books at or near the beginning had Harry either arriving at or leaving number 4 Privet Drive. All the movies should have started there! And again, what’s with the stupid shrunken heads?

Yes, I do know that the books are way too detailed, especially the later ones, not every detail can fit in the movies. I can understand taking Norbert out, I can understand the all-out effort to shorten the script, what I can’t understand is adding in stuff that’s not in the book!

Okay, so maybe it was easier to let Neville have the role the fake Mad-Eye intended him to have in Harry getting through the second task just so Dobby doesn’t have to be there, but then you add in that frantic scene where Neville thinks his idea didn’t work and Harry drowned! Why?

I don’t know, maybe it could have worked that way because the fake Mad-Eye did give Neville that book with that intention in mind, but well, think about it. Harry knew Neville, they slept in the same dorm room, but that was all. The most you could say was that they were acquainted with each other.

And frankly, who confides in people they barely know? Certainly not Harry, who only asked his closest friends.

Rowling may have had the fake Mad-Eye giving Neville that book (And quite frankly I was sure the first time I read about it that there was something important about that book, after all, why would a DADA teacher give a student a herbology book?) but Harry would never have asked Neville for help!

It was far more likely for Harry to get help from Dobby then to ask Neville for it. Of course, he didn’t ask Dobby either. Dobby offered his help! After being freed by Harry, Dobby was constantly asking what he could do for him, while on the other hand, Neville would never have asked if he could help, well anyone, at that point in the saga Neville thought he was all but worthless.

Who with that low of self-esteem would have offered their help to anyone? Especially someone at the top of their class, when they are closer to the bottom?

All authors have to realistic. Rowling was being realistic. End of discussion.

Though, after seeing the very first movie (having read the first several times by the date) I know for sure if I was an English teacher and my class was reading that book, I would make sure you can only answer the test questions correctly if you read the book. Even better I'd word it just so that if you only watched the movie, you’d get the answer wrong!

And for any of you kids out there who still think they can just watch the movie, there are lots of details that are totally incorrect in the movies. I promise, and I’ve only compared a few movies to the books they are based on, not just HP. I wouldn’t count on that if I were you.

Actually, I’ve yet to watch a movie based on a book that was anywhere near as good as the book. The books were always ten times better than the movies. And frankly, I liked some of those movies.

Anyway, happy writing everyone! 

Reading and Living by Konnie Enos

In recent weeks I’ve seen articles about how reading is good for your longevity. Then today I found a list of five suggested books to read this summer and noticed something. Two were plays, two had already been made into movies and the last one; it was about how the internet is making us dumb.

I have in fact heard on several occasions the idea that in the age of instant everything, including answers, we’re becoming dumber. People want instant answers, knowledge, information, satisfaction. It’s becoming an epidemic of a total lack of patience.

Why wait to learn reading, writing, math, when the answers are right at your fingertips on the internet. Why bother to even retain any facts because you can just look it up again online.

When I was in school they at least attempted to teach us how to convert from our system of measuring to the metric system and back again. Who even remembers any of that? Just look up a conversion chart online.

My sister has a book with a perpetual calendar in it, but why bother looking things up in that. Just find the chart online. Let the computer algorithm find the date information you need in a matter of seconds.

Nowadays there is an app for just about everything, even finding trivia.

The problem with all this is it does make us dumber. We stop reading the books. We stop retaining information. We stop learning.

In Ally Condie’s “Matched” dystopia series she creates a world where people are so dependent on the information on the internet that they can’t even write. They don’t even know how to form letters. They don’t compose so much as a note without plagiarizing from what they find online. They literally just copy and paste words and phrases into the order they want to use. When the leading lady learns to actually write her own name, it’s a new thing to her.

You would think something like this was farfetched, but in this day and age, it really isn’t. We are really almost there.

Today’s kids have little time for patience.

They don’t understand waiting for anything, least of all information.

They’ve never had to wait for the slow churn of an ice cream machine to enjoy that cool confection.

They’ve never had to entertain themselves for an entire long, hot summer day with nothing but a park, and maybe a swimming pool, or a bike.

They’ve never had to get themselves across town without a parent to drive them, so it was either hoof it or bike it. No matter how long it took.

This Pokémon Go craze was intended to get people out and walking around, but there is apparently ways to get around that. My boys are playing it. My son has figured out how to convince the app he’s gone places like France, Britain, Brazil and Seattle. All yesterday, while sitting in his bed on his computer.

Kids want instant gratification without the effort to earn it.

Personally, I hope that being a reader thing includes reading WIP’s, because I don’t get a lot of time to actually read books nowadays between writing and you know, that busy mom thing I do every day.

I think we need to do better teaching that patience is a virtue and anything worth having is worth working for.

Maybe we need to turn off the tech more. (I say as I type on my computer with five internet tabs open.)

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.