"Life isn't long enough to do all you could accomplish. And what a privilege even to be alive. In spite of all the pollutions and horrors, how beautiful this world is.
Supposing you only saw the stars once every year. Think what you would think. The wonder of it!"--Tasha Tudor



Wednesday, December 22, 2010

E Reading Little Women



"Jo was the first to wake in the gray dawn of Christmas morning. No stockings hung by the fireplace, and for a moment she felt as much disappointed as she did long ago, when her little sock fell down because it was so crammed with goodies. Then she remembered her mother's promise and, slipping her hand under her pillow drew out a little crimson-colored book. She knew it very well, for it was that beautiful old story of the best life ever lived...." Beginning of Chapter 2, A Merry Christmas, from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I have a sneaking suspicion that Santa might bring a couple of E Readers here to the Santarsiero household for Christmas, you know, Kindle, Nook and the like. I downloaded Barnes and Noble's Nook for the PC just to see what all of the fuss was about. If you don't have a Nook you can download and use Nook for the PC right to your computer for free without owning the actual device. There are loads of free books you can get in an instant. I must say that I am impressed. I resisted the notion of ever being able to take pleasure in reading in an electronic format. I love books and glorious magazines. The old fashioned paper kind. I love the feel of them, the smell of them, the way they look stacked up on a shelf or table just beckoning me to take a break and escape into a story. No one that I know loves books as much as my 19 year old daughter, Laura. She is constantly writing and reading. She takes more books out of the library than anyone I know (yet still loathes the Dewey Decimal System) and spends every dime she has on books. She agrees that no electronic device can ever replace a real book for a true bibliophile.

Having said that, last night while The Mister was outside with the cable guy trying to figure out why our internet connection was screwy, I had the Nook version of Little Women up on my computer screen. After a few minutes I felt the familiar presence of Laura reading over my shoulder, drinking a hot cup of tea. I call her the 'grammar nazi' because she is constantly criticizing me when she sees the way I sometimes send out emails or instant messages with no capitalization, punctuation, etc. Homeschoolers! Sheesh! Anyway, even she was intrigued by the E Book. Within minutes she was reaching over my shoulder to get the mouse and clicking on all of the highlighted footnotes and annotations throughout the page to discover more information, definitions, and the like. Very cool indeed. So many of the classics and others are available and for free! I can see what a wonderful resource this could be for students who need to read books for book reports for school assignments.

Anyway, getting back to Little Women, I especially enjoyed the notes in the beginning of the book with the introduction and The World Of Louisa May Alcott. If you love Little Women, check out the Nook version. I think you will enjoy it if you have never read it before. It might come in handy on those snowy Winter days like this!

P.S. Do you love The Pioneer Woman? Who doesn't? Here's a link to a wonderful printer giveaway over on her Tasty Kitchen blog!
Have a happy day, my lovelies!
xo xo ♥ CS

5 comments:

Anna M said...

I will admit the lure of the E-Reader didn't really hit me until the reality of 10,000 books in a very small house hit. So many books, so many old friends, some falling apart and so many more to acquire. I started with a Kindle and then seduced my husband with it as well. I moved on to the Ipad (multi tasking is my friend) and he now has my Kindle.

The pleasure of being able to purchase a book and be reading it a moment later is something to be experienced on a cold winter's evening when going out to the store seems like a trudge.

I still have some old favorites that will remain but I've acquired a large amount of inner home real estate by doing the switch and that's not a bad thing either.

Happy Holidays Cathy and to all your family and four foots!

^..^Corgidogmama said...

I had forgotten there was so much about Christmas in Little Women. Absolutely loved your happy corgi/horse photos...pictures of days gone by, and happier days when your animal household was complete.
Hoping that you'll refill your home with more corgis and joy will rule your days.
Lovely post. Happiest of Christmases to you and yours Cat.

Theresa MacNaughton said...

Little Women is one of my favorite stories. I must admit that I am rather old fashioned when it comes to books - and prefer to hold the actual one in my hand. My hubby prefers e-books. LOL I also just discovered the joys of the Pioneer Woman. Thanks for the link to her site. :) Happy Holidays! Theresa

Miccosukee said...

I plan to celebrate my 62rd birthday by buying a Kindle. I will never give up on buying some books not in eformat as I enjoy trading books with friends whom I know don't own the electronic reader and it's hard to read your computer in bed if it's not a laptop!

On another note, thanks so much Cathy for the Corgi prints that arrived this week. I have been in bed so I did not get them until yesterday. What a wonderful give-away and I considered them a present to me. Each will be framed and hung with honor. They arrived the same day as "The Watching" which benefits Corgi-Aid. What a great day to open the mail!

Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday,
From Trisha and Dottie

Heather said...

I love this book, and the movie is perfect for the holidays :) makes me long for a wintery new england! And yes, I come from the land of the pioneer woman :) I got her book at the library!~