My wonderful, adoring husband bought me a Kindle Fire for Christmas last year. He did it to prove he loves me. OK, so maybe I begged a little (or a lot). I think he may be regretting that decision. Someone asked him how I liked it and he told them "My God, she even sleeps with it!" (He sounded a little disgusted at the time.) To be fair, I don't plan on sleeping with it, I just happen to fall asleep while reading (or playing Mah Jong or Angry Birds or checking Facebook, etc.). It's really not my fault.
I have always been an avid reader, the bookworm kid in school. As soon as I could read, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. It was an obsession. I can spend hours in a used bookstore or library and never get enough. I've got piles of books at home that I've read over & over. I can't part with them, because I know I'll want to read them again someday. I usually have quite a few library fines, too. I will go to the library and check out way too many books. I never quite seem to be able to fit them all in, but I can't bear to return them until I've read them. Occasionally, it will be so bad that the library will put a hold on my account until I pay the fine. Kinda silly, isn't it?
When the first e-readers came out, I turned my nose up at them. I love the feel of a book in my hands, the pictures on the covers, everything all of us silly book snobs said when e-readers were new. But I saw how much fun my son was having with his iPod and all the cool things it could do & I wanted something like that too. I sure as hell wasn't going to pay the money for an iPod or an iPhone, but I still wanted something I could play with. Then the Kindle Fire came out. You couldn't beat the price and it looked like it did enough of what I would like that I wanted one. Best thing I ever did! I love this thing!
When I first got my Kindle, I downloaded all the free books I could find and all the free apps that everyone had been talking about, like Angry Birds. I think I read one book right away, but then spent the next month just playing games. Once I got that out of my system, (OK, mostly out), I started checking into audio books and library books. Needless to say, I am hooked. I usually have two books going at once now: one audio book that I listen to while driving in my car (I commute two hours a day) and one digital book that I read on my breaks and at lunch. I don't know how I keep them straight. That's the problem with OCD personalities, we can't do anything small. Go big, or go home!
So needless to say, I give the Kindle Fire a standing ovation. I love it and don't know how I lived without it!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Censorship - not so black & white
My son brought home a permission slip for a book for his English class. The book is called "American Gods" and is written by Neil Gaiman, and Gaiman has won quite a few awards for his writing. However, the book contains "sexual encounters, graphic violence similar to crucifixion, and strong language throughout". I have to admit that my first reaction was to be upset that my kid needs permission to read. He is almost 17 years old and a junior in high school. I cannot think of a book out there that I wouldn't let him read. I've always been very against censorship of any kind. My thinking is this: How can you expect people to make informed decisions and learn to think for themselves if you limit what information they have access to? So, of course, I signed the permission slip and returned it to my son.
Today, I thought about it some more and realized how much I've changed over the years. When I was my son's age, they had just started talking about using a rating system for music. It was during the time that people were boycotting Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Metallica and others. They were saying that this type of music promoted drugs, suicide and satanism...and this was the music I loved. I was very passionate about it, and no one was going to tell me what I could listen to, or read. I thought these people were idiots. They didn't understand, and wouldn't take the time to listen to find out what the music really was about. I was never going to be like that!
Fast forward many years to when my oldest son was little and just starting to find out what kind of music he liked. He wanted to listen to Rap: Eminem, Snoop Dog, Lil Bow Wow...stuff I didn't listen to at all. By this time, the rating/warning system was in place and I hated to admit it, but I was grateful for it. Now I knew which CD's contained explicit language or strong themes and it was helping me to decide what to let him listen to. After all, he was still little, only about 7 or 8 years old, and I didn't want him hearing the profanity or other things. Now we could buy clean versions of music - it was a compromise of sorts. He wasn't always happy about it, but he could still listen to some of what he wanted and I didn't have to sit and listen to hours of music that I could barely tolerate. That's when I realized that the issue wasn't nearly as black and white as I thought it was. We have been using a rating system for years for movies, and while it isn't perfect, it's better than nothing. These systems have given me, as a parent, a better opportunity to learn with my son while still protecting him and not having to shelter him from everything.
So, is the permission slip a good thing? I looked the book up and read a summary of the plot and decided that it probably was. While I no longer limit what my son has access to, I could see why some parents might have a problem with this book and want their children to read something else. I believe that I have given my son the decision making skills to choose his own path, but I am also glad that I still know most of what is going on in his life. I do believe that this is a good book for him, as it is something that may challenge his thinking while keeping him interested. It's the kind of book I would choose for myself, and I do plan on reading it. But I've also realized that the permission slip is not the same thing as censorship - it's just giving an option and opening up dialog, which in my opinion is always a good thing.
Today, I thought about it some more and realized how much I've changed over the years. When I was my son's age, they had just started talking about using a rating system for music. It was during the time that people were boycotting Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Metallica and others. They were saying that this type of music promoted drugs, suicide and satanism...and this was the music I loved. I was very passionate about it, and no one was going to tell me what I could listen to, or read. I thought these people were idiots. They didn't understand, and wouldn't take the time to listen to find out what the music really was about. I was never going to be like that!
Fast forward many years to when my oldest son was little and just starting to find out what kind of music he liked. He wanted to listen to Rap: Eminem, Snoop Dog, Lil Bow Wow...stuff I didn't listen to at all. By this time, the rating/warning system was in place and I hated to admit it, but I was grateful for it. Now I knew which CD's contained explicit language or strong themes and it was helping me to decide what to let him listen to. After all, he was still little, only about 7 or 8 years old, and I didn't want him hearing the profanity or other things. Now we could buy clean versions of music - it was a compromise of sorts. He wasn't always happy about it, but he could still listen to some of what he wanted and I didn't have to sit and listen to hours of music that I could barely tolerate. That's when I realized that the issue wasn't nearly as black and white as I thought it was. We have been using a rating system for years for movies, and while it isn't perfect, it's better than nothing. These systems have given me, as a parent, a better opportunity to learn with my son while still protecting him and not having to shelter him from everything.
So, is the permission slip a good thing? I looked the book up and read a summary of the plot and decided that it probably was. While I no longer limit what my son has access to, I could see why some parents might have a problem with this book and want their children to read something else. I believe that I have given my son the decision making skills to choose his own path, but I am also glad that I still know most of what is going on in his life. I do believe that this is a good book for him, as it is something that may challenge his thinking while keeping him interested. It's the kind of book I would choose for myself, and I do plan on reading it. But I've also realized that the permission slip is not the same thing as censorship - it's just giving an option and opening up dialog, which in my opinion is always a good thing.
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