Taking a Leap

I love books!

I love the paper, the photos, the illustrations, the title pages, the blurbs...the comfort of holding in my hands the delight and excitement of story.

Information. Plot and character. Instruction. Encouragement. Confusion (you've read those types, too). Emotions. Challenge. All of that and more.

I fell for the convenience and asked for a Kindle for my birthday. Now I anxiously wait for the special delivery. One draw was the space saving, purse toting, suitcase emptying aspect of owning an electronic reader. Another enticement was the cutting edge type of technology, which usually doesn't woo me. I succumbed.

Never fear, my books, you are not being replaced. Rather, embraced and cherished. I still desire REAL books to surround me and make my home a place of comfort and coziness.

But for the travel and the sometimes here and now, I will have my Kindle.

Come on, mailman. I waiting.

The Mitford Series (Subtitle: How to Find Cheap Books)

What's on my night stand right now? Inheritance (which is waiting until I can refresh the plot line, problems, setting, characters in my mind), Mockingjay (disturbingly violent but riveting for the intended audience), and Book number 6 in the Mitford Series, A Common Life, The Wedding Story.

Reflecting on the last book listed, I can't find my set of the Mitford Series. I've had them all, lost them all, and am in the process of recollecting them all. Easiest way would be to go to the store and buy the entire set, or go online and order the whole set. But where is the fun in that challenge?

My strategy: thrift stores ($1 or less is an appropriate price to my way of thinking); yard sales; online bargains (but usually out of my $1 price range due to shipping); and my most recent way to go - www.paperbackswap.com.

Paperbackswap.com was an accidental find for me. But accidents are not always bad things. I joined, listed books I was willing to part with, and as soon as I gained my first point (one book sent to another subscriber, the mailer paying the postage), I was hooked - searching and hunting, requesting and waiting. It's a great deal!

Slowly, slowly, I have been recovering the entire series. I just began A Common Life, The Wedding Story. I love the character development for Father Tim and Cynthia, who is after all, an author and illustrator, someone near and dear to my heart. All of the characters are beautifully developed. Life happens, the good, the scary, the weird, the terrible. Seems to me that Mitford should and could be a real location.

What a nice way to drift off to sleep, visiting the reality of Mitford.