Book #1

I have struggled for years with the idea of "technology" and when the "E-readers" started showing up, I swore them off without even looking at them.  There is nothing...NOTHING....better than a book; a real life, made out of paper, shiny covered, heavy book.  I love the smell of them, the feel of them, paperback or hardback...holding a pile of them makes me happy - giddy even. The older, more worn out, the better.  I love a book with its own story... and not just the one on the pages.

But, admittedly, curiosity got the better of me.  And some of the things I found myself wanting to read ONLY came in e-book form.  Call it pure stubbornness, but my brain just will not let me read and comprehend more than a few paragraphs on the PC screen...so, my willpower faltered and I mentioned that I was looking to buy a Kindle.

Not long after, one showed up at my door.  (Thank you Mom and Dad.)

I still rebelled.  I put a couple of things on it.  I read my email.

But I wasn't going to become dependent...

...that is, until people (brilliant people, I might add) started to put up lists of books that you could get from Amazon for free - or at least on the way cheap.


I now have over 30 books on my Kindle.

Ooops.

Buuut....I still would never trade my "real" tomes for the ones I've got digitally stored.  In fact, when I read a good one from cyber-space...I immediately buy it in print!!
 
This latest read has already been ordered.  :)

Perusing my daily list of cheap-o books, I skimmed by the words "Kearsley has been compared to Gabaldon..."

SCREEeeEEECH!

Pant..pant...this person with a book on the CHEAP LIST has been compared to my FAVORITE author!!?

So I just had to read the review - more enticing words like "Scotland" and "Scottish" and "Scot" were there...so, in my  mind I heard, "Surely this book was just "on sale"...not actually 'cheap.'  I have to just be getting an amazing deal...did you see that review???!  SCOTLAND!  GABALDON!!"

 Rather impatiently, I used the "Buy with One-Click" on my Amazon account to download.  (**WARNING*** This button is dangerous.  If you have a weak will, an itchy trigger finger...anything...avoid installing this on your Amazon account!  I am currently in therapy...no, really...)

People.  This was a great book.  The only way I can think to express just how good is to give you a bit of "the goings on" in our home the past few weeks...

We got a puppy for Christmas.  A tiny puppy that needed nursing, burping (seriously), butt wiping, discipline...I swear it was like I had a newborn again.  I slept for a total of  maybe 37 minutes a night for, like, 9 days.

I. am. tired.

Then, I find this book.  I really only have a chance to read a chapter or two for a while, but as each page passes...things get more pressing.

I get wrapped up in an incredibly accurate historical account of the Jacobites, the attempts of King James to reclaim the Scottish throne...okay, sure, call me a Dork-a-saurus Rex - but this was all stuff I had studied in school not a year ago.  LOOK!  LOOK!  I'm using my major! <lol!>

Then there were the depictions of Scottish scenery; green landscape shrouded in mist and shivering cold quelled by warm, cozy fires...

and the <shiver> dialogue.  That Scottish brogue. <shiver again>

And that's all wrapped up in the completely believable scenario of a present day writer with "genetic memory" of a time (and love) long past....

Have I said <shiver> yet??

Well, the puppy eventually started sleeping for more than an hour at a time...I could get him in his kennel at about 9:30 and if I ran upstairs and hit the pillow immediately, I could get 5-6 hours of sleep.

er...Did I mention that Scottish brogue?

Well, last night, I didn't even try to get to bed at all. The book had to be finished before I could sleep. 

Back to the 37 minutes routine...
...but...heck!

What else is caffeine for besides the "day after a great book had to be finished" hangover?! :)

Truly an excellent start to my reading adventures in 2013!!