A little slow on the pickup

Well, finally the dichotomy between being incredibly cheap and wanting to read all the books has pushed me to sit down and figure out how to check out e-books from the local library. Yes, yes, I know this has been available since probably 2010. If not longer. Whatevs.

What pushed me to it, you ask? Two things.

First, have you ever gone to the physical library with children? Did you leave with any books of your own or just a massive pile of books for you and said kids to read together? (Now, granted, the latter is not a bad thing, and I don't mind doing that. But how is a mom supposed to browse the stacks of books she's looking at when a) the library is a public building full of potentially creepy people so it's not as if I'm going to let a six year old wander on his own for a few minutes. Or even get out of sight. I will let the ten year old scoot down to juvenile, but he has to check back in every couple of minutes. I'm also fuzzy on details, but it's probably illegal to let the six year old be unattended. Because that's the world in which we live. Point being, by the time it might possibly be time for me to get to look at my books? I'm already toting eighty pounds of literature and the librarians are desperately hoping we're on our way out.)

Second is the ridiculousness of traditional publishers who feel like it's reasonable to charge a body $12 for a parcel of electrons when that same body could, for the low-low price of $8 have a physical copy to hold in her hands in perpetuity. With free shipping, even.

I won't get into what I see as the nefarious conspiracies behind the publishers' decisions to do this (short version: trad publishers want ebooks to fail because tradition - it's a tad more complex than that, but that's at the heart of it), but it's ridiculous. Now, sometimes, I will hold my breath, plug my nose, and pay the piper, because I don't want a paperback. I'm one of those who have embraced my kindle and you can pry it out of my cold, dead hands. Hubby ADORES that I have embraced the Kindle because it has gotten us a few shaky steps away from an episode of Hoarders: Book Edition. But paying that kind of coin for something that can get erased with an accidental mouse click or electromagnetic pulse? Nope nope nope.

Throw in, as a bonus, point three, that there are some books that I'd like to read but don't necessarily need to own and, well, Overdrive to the rescue.

All that to say I've got one lovely book checked out and a hold on another and, if all goes well, can assuage my reading itch in new ways that don't involve spending pennies. We shall see. I know it's not going to be a perfect solution as I've already bumped into four titles that I was hoping to read that are not available in said format. So, those will go back on the back burner until I either bite the bullet and pay the ridiculous amount of currency they want, buy the paperback because cheaper, or figure out how to use the library with a six year old.

Regardless, for now, I'm optimistic.