Happy New Year

Thursday, 6:09 pm

By Kate

Jan

01

2009

I hope that you all have had a wonderful holiday season this year. And my finest wishes for a good 2009.

Life in my little house has been relaxed and most pleasurable this holiday. It was a little topsy-turvy at first, but all turned out nicely. We’re cozy and warm and well-fed. The lad received a few cookbooks for Christmas and he has been practicing on me. Just an unfortunate learning experience or two along the way, but in the main, oh my. Last night, for example, he made me steak marsala and it was to die for. The night before it was rosemary chicken with a honey/balsamic vinegar glaze with horseradished potatoes. Horseradish in potatoes, you say? Ohhhh....so delicious. I shall regret sending him back to school. Meal times are just too much fun. Having someone cook for me is simply a luxury beyond measure.

Does anyone have any New Year Resolutions? I used to have a long list of them every year, but learned that a long list was unrealistic. The only thing it was good for was to make me feel terrible when I didn’t achieve most of them. So, I’ve scaled it back significantly. In terms of blog resolutions, I think just one—try to blog more often. In fact, I will try to post every single day in January. Not sure how well that will pan out, but if I get through January, then I’ll tackle February.

The one resolution that I made in 2008 turned out well. It was simple—read at least one book a week. I used to be a voracious reader. Somewhere along the line, that stopped and it was a good year when I read a half a dozen books. I think there were a couple of years in there were I was doing well to read 2 books. I think part of that was because the public library is in the most inconvenient spot on earth. Otherwise, books have grown rather expensive over the years and I can’t afford to walk into my favorite bookstore to get ONE book and walk out with an armful every month. I have a lack of discipline when it comes to buying books. Best to stay out of the bookstore, which I did. Plus...I didn’t have any more room to store books. I still have boxes and boxes and boxes full of them in the attic.

Well, in May, I decided to purchase an Amazon Kindle e-reader with the whispernet mobile technology that allows me to download books wirelessly from Amazon and a couple of other places that offer free public domain books. I wasn’t sure that would be a whole lot better than walking into a bookstore, but at least it solved a couple of problems—no more piles of books scattered all over the house and no need to lug a book or two along with me wherever I go. Oh, and I could get a book the second I wanted it. Instant gratification is lovely, especially after the waiting lists at the library, which often extended beyond 4 weeks.

This has worked out very well for me. I now have a growing library contained in this little device and it goes with me wherever I go. It’s amazing how much reading I can get done standing in line waiting. Since last May, I’ve acquired 73 e-books from Amazon and 33 free public domain books. The total book cost involved for the last 8 months has been $227 for 106 books, which makes the average cost per book about $2.15. Not bad. And, of those 106 books, I have read 31 of them. Plus another 9 that I checked out of the library.

So, for the last 8 months, I’ve read 40 books and that comes out to about 5 books per month which is slightly more than 1 book per week. I still didn’t quite meet my 2008 New Year’s Resolution for the year, but I came pretty darned close. I should exceed it this year.

The best part is that I am reading voraciously again. And I’m reading authors I might never have discovered. 2008 has been an absolute feast.