My Precious

I’m eagerly anticipating the release of the new Hobbit movie. The fact that there will be THREE movies only adds to the excitement, and if I could, I would sign up for the extended version films already. I was flipping through the book the other day, enjoying Michael Hague’s excellent illustrations, when I saw one titled “The Precious.” I’ve been thinking about that a bit since then. Don’t we all have something, a material item, which is so precious to us that we would get slightly hysterical, i.e. turn into a raving lunatic like Gollum, if it were taken from us? Yes, we do. Right now, my precious is my Kindle. Since I get a little (okay, a lot) antsy if I don’t have a book waiting for me to read next—this is not counting the one that I am currently reading—my Kindle has eased my troubled heart. A push of the button… and I can get a book. No long uphill half-mile journey to the library in all kinds of weather. (Yes, we moved to our house because of its proximity to the library—it’s all about location, people.) No browsing for hours to find the true and living NEXT GOOD READ. Many times, these days, I let my fingers do the walking, right into the e-book section of the lending library or on over to Amazon.com. That’s not to say that I don’t still have an on-going love affair with the crisp feel and smell of ink-laden pages, or simply love the anticipation of shelves of books stretching out in front of me in the library—that will never change. I resisted having a Kindle because of those very things. Bah humbug, I said. No electronic reading device could ever intrigue ME. I am now eating my words. But at least I haven’t succumbed to the I-phone craze yet. All those boorish people who jump to look at their phones as soon as it beeps while you’re in the midst of a conversation! So rude. No, when I get mine on October 5th, I will definitely NOT do that. So there.