The Bibliophile and the Boob (or The Bookreader and Me)

They say the world's greatest leaders were great readers. I'm a follower. I actually hate to read. I have tried it before once or twice. One time my wife, Joyce, had a copy of The Client by John Grisham sitting around the house waiting for someone to unwrap its pages. I figured that this reading thing can't be too bad; everyone else does it. So I decided to give it a shot. I unfurled the volume and began reading the first page. I read every night before I went to bed. I replaced my computer time with reading time. I read at lunch and every available time I had. I became an obsessed reader. After reading those first 50 pages in that first week, I started thinking, "I'm doing pretty good. At this pace, I'll finish in 10-12 weeks." Then I was humiliated. Joyce picked up the book and like a buzzsaw devoured 150 pages in one sitting. She encouraged me to read on, but I couldn't bring myself to read the next page. The book had been courted by someone else; someone more capable of fulfilling it's needs. And besides, I figured I would wait to see the movie.

As long as Joyce has a book, she doesn't bother me too much about the time I spend on the computer. If you read my article from last week, you know that I have been waiting for a computer (and still am waiting). Knowing that a new computer was going to take some time to set up, I bought Joyce the latest Walter Lamb's book, I Know This Much Is True for Christmas. I didn't care if it was a good book but I knew it was a long book. By the time she finished it, I would have my computer set up and she wouldn't even miss me. It was a good scheme but it didn't quite work out that way since I've been waiting a month on the computer and she finished the book in a week! One week! That book is like 8,000 pages with no pictures!

It doesn't matter if you're like Joyce and just love to read, or like my Pastor who is such a speed reader that he reads diagonally instead of line by line, or like me who buys books to keep their spouse busy; whoever you are, you can find the book you're looking for on the Internet.

This past Christmas, I purchased more books for people than any other gift and I bought them all on the Internet. I started at The copyright of the article The Bibliophile and the Boob (or The Bookreader and Me) in Online Shopping is owned by Reginald Vickers. Permission to republish The Bibliophile and the Boob (or The Bookreader and Me) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.