A few weeks ago I thought of the best New Year's resolution ever, and also one I am actually like to follow through on. Don't ask me how my year of not complaining about insignificant things went, because the answer is badly. And it was also more like two weeks instead of twelve months.
But it seems silly to wait for 2014 to start doing something that makes so much sense to me now, so, I'm not going to.
I was privy to a writer's rant a few weeks ago over the cost of eBooks, and while I certainly felt for the fella, I've also benefited tremendously as a reader from having access to such a bounty of fiction at such a low cost. I've purchased books I might never have read otherwise because they were a buck or two instead of twenty, and gone on to rave over those books and recommend them to friends (when they've been good). Most of my life I've only ever bought books for class, or after checking them out from the library enough times that I've paid for the book already in late fines. A book is an investment, something I'm going to be adding to a carefully curated library, and not something I've ever considered buying on a whim.
Until I got my Kindle.
And now I can read so much more, occupy so many more worlds, and frankly, it's dirt cheap. Criminally so. Do I think this is a bad thing? Sometimes. But the sheer amount of published material available to the contemporary reader is staggering. Finding something you can really connect with is even more of a challenge. It only makes sense that with greater supply, there is diminished demand. I've enjoyed taking advantage of a system that allows me to take a risk on an unknown author, or follow up on a recommendation from a friend before I have the chance to forget about it.
So here's where the resolution comes in. There's often the joke that a cup of coffee costs more than an eBook. And given my complete lack of hesitation in dropping four bucks on the good stuff (a friend has accused me of rubbing ground coffee on my gums; I really do have a problem), I'm going to promise myself that every time I do I'll commit to buying a book, too. I'm not in the habit of issuing challenges, but I feel like this is a good one. So consider yourself challenged to do the same. Wouldn't you rather be reading when you're drinking liquid creativity, anyway?
This week it was an iced dark roast and Winona Kent's Persistence of Memory. What'll yours be?