I have to admit it took me a while to warm up to the idea of e-books. In fact, last year around this time I swore I’d never buy an e-reader. Who wants to hold a sterile electronic device when you can open a book, inhale its pages, and flip back at forth at will?
Then my husband bought me a Kindle for Valentine’s Day.
And it’s been the best thing ever. I loaded up four memoirs for our vacation to Vancouver this fall. My luggage was noticeably lighter and I never worried about running out of reading material.
The other great thing about e-readers is that some material just isn’t available in print. Take Amy Tan’s new work, Rules for Virgins (Byliner.com, 2011). It came out this week solely as an e-book for $2.99.
We had our first snow today, so I declared it a snow day and didn’t step foot outside at all. This morning as my kids played, I fired up the Kindle and read Rules for Virgins while sipping the last of the genmaicha my mom brought me from Japan 18 months ago.
Embracing my inner Asian Studies nerd, I love that Rules is set in 1912 Shanghai. You see, I’m already gearing up for the centennial of the Chinese Republic. Sure, it was already celebrated on Double Ten this year, but the official start date of Sun Yat-Sen’s government was January 1, 1912. What better way to commemorate this historic event than with a new story set during that time?
In the coming months, we have something else to look forward to–Tan’s new novel, The Valley of Amazement (Ecco, 2012), from which this 42-page ‘long short story’ is based.
Happy reading!
The smell of mugicha brewing instantly takes me back to Summer in Japan. I’d keep a jug of it in the fridge on my days off, and sit in the bay window and drink it while I read.
With the Kindle and iBooks apps on my iPhone, I always have books to hand – I never leave the house without the phone.
Tea and books… a brilliant combination.
Drat! I forgot you lived in Japan (and for so long, too)! Yes, there’s nothing quite like tea and books, although once I hit 40, I can’t seem to drink caffeinated tea after noon or else my head spins at 3am and I can’t fall back asleep 🙁
I have Kindle for my phone, but haven’t used it. It’s good to keep in mind in case I forget my proper Kindle or print book!
I’ll have to chase that up – I like a bit of Amy Tan (when you can get it here!).
I introduced my wife to genmaicha last Summer, and she really likes it. Someone once told me that the rice used in it is the same type used to make sake, but I’ve never gotten around to checking it. It sounds completely plausible….
I’d be lost without the Kindle app on my iPhone and iPad – waiting around, I’ve always got a book to read.
Thanks so much for your comment! This piece was a little different from her earlier work, but I think it was quite good. Think “Memoirs of a Geisha” with a little spice. I have high hopes for her novel that’s coming out in 2012.
I love that roasted rice! In this package I have, some of the rice looks like popcorn, but most is just brown and puffy. That’s interesting about the sake theory, and yes, it does sound like it could be true. I’ve had mugicha, which is roasted barley tea, but that was a long time ago. It doesn’t seem to be stocked in the tea shops I’ve been to.
I always have a book to read, too! Leaving home without one is like leaving without my wallet!