To "E" or not to "E"

Day: 604
High Temp: 87F

In the months leading up to Christmas, my mom took a moment out of practically every phone conversation we had to ask me if I would like an E-reader. She would ask me if I would prefer a Kindle, or if there were another I would like. And honestly, at first I thought it would be kind of cool to have one, but I didn't consider it to be something I really wanted. But the more she asked, the more I realized I was looking forward to opening a Kindle on Christmas morning. And then I started seeing Kindles everywhere. Then as the holiday approached, my mom stopped asking about it, and suddenly, I found myself worried that I had gotten too excited over the prospect of receiving a Kindle. I had even started answering the "what do you want for Christmas" question with "Amazon Gift Cards!"

On Christmas Eve, it wasn't visions of sugarplums that danced in my head, but of a vast electronic library at my fingertips. Needless to say,  I was really excited when I opened my new black Kindle on Christmas morning. So much the better that my sister-in-law had the good taste to choose for me a handsome pumpkin orange leather case. And that my brilliant husband had purchased me an Amazon Gift Card.

I have to say, I am really enjoying my Kindle. Okay, I love it. It makes book club easier and cheaper. I no longer have to choose my handbag based on whether it will hold my current read (the Kindle fits in ALL my daytime appropriate purses). And Tom and I have discovered the joy of crossword puzzling again through and interactive NYT crossword books.  The free books available in the public domain should be enough to convince even the most skeptical technophobe.

There is, however, one genre of books I could never ever give up in paper form: The Cookbook. I really love cookbooks, and nowadays so many of them are truly works of art in their own right. I shudder to think of what the Alina cookbook experience would be without the stunning photography of the little pieces of modern art looking food. And what is the fun of all those cute cupcake cook books without the candy-colored photos?

Most recently Tart and Sweet, a new canning cook book, has caught my eye. Trust me, there is no fun in canning recipes without the pretty photos of ripe fruits and veggies just waiting to be processed. While this book is actually available for Kindle, I just cannot imagine buying it that way. With six heirloom tomato plants in the ground, and peaches and figs coming in later this year, I think Tart and Sweet may just be my first paper book in the Kindle-era.