Daughter-in-law's mum is going to be in hospital for a while so, as Daughter-in-law is going to visit her this coming week, I thought I'd see if I had any books she might like to read to while away the time.
I discovered two things.
The first is that I have a seriously huge number of unread books. I've bought them mostly in charity shops thinking, "This looks good," and then adding it to the shelf or rather shelves that constitute my To Be Read list.
I should probably make a start on reading them otherwise I won't get them all read before I die. Then again I do love going to the library. Books on my own shelf never excite me as much as unfamiliar books on a library shelf.
Maybe I should resolve to read one from my shelf for each library book I read. That would be a good idea.
The second thing is today's print size and style compared to that of books from twenty or more years ago.
In the library I pick up a book I like the sound of. I glance inside, exclaim in horror, "Urgh, the print's too small," and rapidly return it to the shelf.
Is it just that I'm older and need glasses? Or have I got used to the what seems to be the modern style?
The third thing - yes, I know I said two but I thought of something else - browsing on my bookshelves I found lots of books I've read before but having rediscovered would like to read again. As I usually have very little recollection of what happened in it, it's just like reading a new book.
5 comments:
I can't read any print book anymore, unless it's one of those "official" Large Print publications. But LP books are hard to find, horribly expensive and rarely in the genre I like reading. So it's e-books for me now, where I can increase the font size on the computer. Thank the Goddess for modern technology.
I agree that some books are hard to read because the print is so small. Why do they do that? And like you I often have no recollection of a book I have read (or even reread) so as you say it's like reading a brand new book. I don't have a pile of To Be Read books though. I have two or three waiting and that's it. But Jenny is easily tempted by enticing books and has plenty of To Be Reads.
The font issue is why I rarely borrow print books, because you can't tell till they arrive if they're going to be readable. Font design is a big part of it, too. I can size and design on my Kindle, and I take it a bit for granted.
The older I get the more I realize how much the print on anything has shrunk.
Small print causes less pages. So making books cheaper to produce. Thus higher profit margins. Capitalism again.
Post a Comment