I read a lot, although I have to admit my ability to concentrate on what I’m reading waxes and wanes so there are many times when the reading tends to be more akin to “skimming”.  I buy books from thrift stores, from Barnes and Noble, online… and I go to the library.  It’!s all good.

Yesterday I entered an entirely new realm, the realm of the e-book.  As I mentioned, my husband bought me a Sony Reader for Christmas!  He had lots of technical reasons for choosing the Reader over the Kindle, but in my mind, why would I not get the one that has Justin Timberlake as it’s spokesperson.  But I digress.

SO off to the e-library I went to surf through their catalog of e-books.  I have to say, it isn’t quite as fun as surfing their regular on-line catalog but I managed to check out Wicked and put the new A.S. Byatt book on hold.  Huh? an e-book on hold? ooookay….

And one of the things I find really interesting, and have not figured it out, is that the majority of the “most popular” downloads on the King County Library e-book site are romance novels.  Romance!  The kind of book with big-bosomed damsels in distress being held by shirtless men on the cover – those by Stephanie Laurens and Lisa Kleypas in particular.  Really?  E-books?  This totally befuddles me because gadgetry and romance novels – and the women who read them – just don’t seem to go together in my mind.  I would love it if someone could explain this to me.  I’m not judging, I’m the one who reads trashy true-crime novels after all.

So what am I reading?

• The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.  Wonderful short novella about the Queen.  And about reading. 
• Black Jack, an adult manga by Osamu Tezuka of Astro Boy fame.  Miss R reads a lot of manga and this one intrigued me enough to get it from the library.  It was good – I might read his Buddha series too.
• Green River Running Red by Ann Rule.  Yes, true crime.  No, it doesn’t bother me to read these, I liken them to reading romance novels (see above).

Plus about 20 books on color, printmaking, design, crafting etc. from the library – eye candy really.