Search This Blog

Sunday 16 February 2014

A bibliophile's dream

I am able to borrow e-books from my library, but because I have a lot of books-to-read in a pile in my room, and because I'm so short-memoried that I can go back and enjoy an e-book I bought last year but can't remember, I seldom think to look at what there is on offer at the library.

I'm so glad I did last night.  Actually, I was looking for an audio-book so that I could listen while I'm crocheting, but they changed the system, so while I could choose a book, and download it, I can't actually find it anywhere on my computer, so I went back to sign out and happily, I found a section called Hidden Gems.  Happily, but not by choice, I have to add.  I feel like I've lost my senses and my connection to the learning part of my brain after I've been poking around the internet world for a while.

The Gem I happened on had the combination of a beautiful illustration and an intriguing title, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane". 

It was late, and I was not at my sharpest, so when I saw the illustration I thought it was a space fantasy.  "Have to read it," I said to myself, and before I knew it, the book was sitting among my Adobe digital editions and I had begun to read it from my laptop screen.

That's not my favourite platform for reading, but I really felt compelled to get into this tale of minute aliens or giant aliens---whatever!  

This, as some sharper-eyed person might have known, was a book about a rabbit---a china rabbit with silk suits and his own pocket watch.  

I read till I had to stop, slept, had breakfast and reacquainted myself briefly with Dave, and came right back to the laptop, reading until I got to the last satisfying word.  That was followed by information on the other books this author has written, which I've heard of but not read and which are to be found where all the books for 6 to 9 year olds are kept.

Don't let that stop you.  For me, it was like putting on my favourite, knitted-by-nanny sweater or eating a tiny, perfect strawberry.  I came out of it with a list of people who need to be gifted with this little treasure.

Thank you Ottawa Public Library.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the headsup, Lorna. I'll keep an eye open for this one.
    I'm reading The Buckshaw Chronicles, written about a kid but not for kids. A mystery-solving 11-yr-old with a penchant for chemistry solves murders the local police seem unable to. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It sounds weird, and that should suit you just fine. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm having a hard time just reading my book club books! Maybe I need to read books geared to 9 year olds.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'll check it out. I have a Kindle now and I'm always DL-ing 99 cent books and so forth and they've mostly been pretty good.
    I did check the Goldfinch out of the library and I might have liked it more if it weren't so wordy. Could've been about 200 pages shorter…..

    ReplyDelete