On the Importance of Touching Things: Unplugging from the Internet

I'm making good on my New Year's resolution to spend less time on the computer.  I devoured Dan Brown's thriller The Lost Symbol.  Then, while visiting family in Cambridge, Mass., I walked into independent Porter Square Books in search of my next read.

The Feel of a Book

Just seeing shelf after shelf of books artfully displayed made my heart sing.  I asked one of the booksellers to recommend an intellectual thriller along the lines of The Lost Symbol.  Minutes later I departed, eager to read Impact by Douglas Preston.

Turned Pages

Later that day I worked on sending cards announcing my inclusion (image below) in The Green Show at the Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Tenn.  Thinking of each recipient, whether gallery owner, friend, family member or colleague, I wrote:  I am so excited.  My first juried show!  Although I essentially wrote the same message on each card, it felt sincere, compared with a Facebook or Twitter shotgun blast.

Farm Gears

I suddenly wondered if I was spelling "juried" correctly, so I consulted spell check a dictionary. 

Tactilian Living

The next weekend I sat down and read for three plus hours straight and finished Impact, ripping through the pages, my heart thumping.  The experience let me to make a Facebook query, "With a printed book, we call it a page-turner.  What is the analogous term when reading an iPad or Kindle?" The replies:  A finger burner.  A pixel shifter.  A good book.  A finger glider.  Do you have any suggestions?  We are in the age of making up new terminology.

Connected by Color

It has been delightful to receive (appropriately green) congratulatory postcards from friends.  I popped one such card in my camera bag along with a show announcement, thinking to photograph them, only to realize my current book, Clive Cussler's The Silent Sea, was yet another shade of green.

Up until this post, like many bloggers, I would link a book I mention to Amazon.  If a reader bought, I would get a small percentage.  Deciding to put my money where my mouth is, I have stopped this practice.  Instead, I suggest you plug in your zip code at this site to find your nearest local bookstore: Indie Store Finder

For those who like reading on their iPads and shopping locally, take a look at this solution on Baristanet.com

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