Marie Cinti: Living in Penfield

Last night, my husband asked, “If you had to choose one book to bring with you on a deserted island, which would it be?”  

My son and I had rock solid answers.... Daniel chose the hypothetical book "Survival for Dummies." I chose "A Guide to Edible Plants and Shrubs." We thought a title like "How To Build a Raft" would also come in handy.

Kidding aside, we then discussed our favorite books of all time, and what makes a book “good” in the first place?  A great writer can take any subject, I mean ANY subject, and make it the most fascinating thing on earth. Look at Susan Orlean, who wrote The Orchid Thief. At its most basic level, it is a book about orchids. And Florida. And orchid collectors. And doesn’t that sound fascinating? But because of Orlean’s talent in stringing the right words together in precisely the right way — it is.

It got me to thinking about sitting under a palm tree with my favorite book — except I haven’t been holding many books lately. The last two novels I read were downloaded from the Penfield Library directly onto my iPad. I’ve enjoyed e-books more than I thought I would.  I can browse the catalog and download books anywhere, anytime.  Very convenient.

Can you imagine what libraries will look like as the concept of electronic books continues to develop?  Or what about our own personal bookshelves? Will we even need to have used book sales? Interesting questions for the future....

To learn more about downloadable books, click here to visit the Penfield Library website.

E-books are great, but I’d hate to see hard copies disappear forever.  I can’t take my iPad to a deserted island-- it would get full of sand!