Feeling Torn. Like a Page From a Book.

So as of late I have been playing with the thought of getting a kindle. I love reading, and it would be convenient to have all my books stored on one little thing I could carry around anywhere. The weight of books does indeed add up. Plus, buying books on the kindle is cheaper. Of course the kindle itself does cost a little over 100 dollars, but still.

I started playing with this thought after I purchased my mom a kindle for Christmas. Of course I purchased it with a wad of cash my dad handed me one day after he said, "Buy your mom some Christmas presents." I was intrigued with the whole idea of the kindle though. It was such a genius idea. I started thinking I wanted one too.

Yesterday, my siblings and I went shopping with our Christmas money. I did not buy a kindle. I bought an actual book though. I bought the Hunger Games. I haven't read them yet so I figure I better start. I only bought the first one because it's the only one so far in paperback.

I think I might be the cheapest person I will ever meet.

I think I have decided that I do not want a kindle. Many people have told me to get one and that I'll love it, but I'm not so sure if I really will love it. I think I would miss picking up a book.

I know I am going to sound like a total nerd, but I love getting a new book to add to my bookshelf. I love picking out the perfect copy and running my fingers across the cover. I love opening it up and have the aroma of fresh paper reach my nostrils. Plus, I feel like each of my books has character. My copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" has a stain on the side of some pages, probably from when I was too caught up in the story to set it down while eating my breakfast. My copy of "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" with the colorful map of Narnia on the inside cover that I once examined as a kid, wondering if that world could perhaps be a real place inside our world. My copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" with a partly torn cover and yellowed pages, I loved this book until it was worn out. Most importantly, my grandma's handwriting on the first page telling me what a wonderful book it was and that she loves me. What a fond memory that will be when I am an old lady, to examine the words in my book left behind by my grandma.

When I was a little girl, I often watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It always thrilled me when the Beast introduced Belle to his library. How amazing would it be to enter a room filled to the ceiling with books? I want that one day. I doubt my one day library will be that grand, but it will be all mine and that is all that matters. It will be my little library, my escape from the world, with a little nook by a window with a huge, cozy chair.

I know I would get run out of town by tree huggers reading this post. I realize that books kill a lot of trees, but let's get real, most environmentalists are a bunch of hypocrites any ways. Like vegetarians who eat fish. How come fish get to die but cows don't? Do you think cows are somehow superior to fish? That is pretty rude.

I also got thinking about my Lord of the Rings books sitting on my shelf. There is a space between my copy of "The Hobbit" and "The Two Towers" where "The Fellowship of the Ring" should be sitting. Someone stole it when I was in middle school. While I was waiting for the bus and playing a pick-up game of basketball, someone swiped it from my binder. At least I have the rest of the series though. With a kindle, if someone gets their grimy, little hands on it, your whole collection of books is gone. It is much more difficult to steal fifty hard copy books.

Then I got thinking, what if there is an evil plot behind the kindle? What if eventually, books go extinct and then kindles shut down? We will have no more books, which means no more furthering education, which means ignorance. It could happen.

Okay, probably not. . .but I am still suspicious.