Anita's Notebook

I’ve experienced a revival in reading since I started getting books for my phone. I do love stories and this definitely includes stories in book form, but for years now my reading of books had dropped off drastically until I was only reading a couple books a year.


LONG SPIRALEY LEASHES

But now things have changed and at this rate I’m going to be able to read at least a couple books a year. It’s amazing how something so simple can inspire such a big change. For me it’s just so much easier to read using the phone, since I always have it with me I can read a few pages whenever I get the time. Not to mention before bed I can read it without having to keep any lights on and disturb Jennifer’s efforts at sleep.

One of the first books I decided to read on my phone was The Hobbit, something I hadn’t read since I was much younger and living in a world where phones were always connected to the wall by long spiraley leashes. The only way you could read a book by phone back then was if someone on the other end was actually reading it aloud to you.


THE BLANK PAPER

The Hobbit is as good as I remember it being and in some ways even better because I can appreciate some things more than when I was a kid. Like I absolutely love how JRR Tolkien’s storytelling style is so casual and conversational. He talks (er …writes) to the reader like he’s right there in the room with you.

It’s said that Tolkien started writing The Hobbit in a really casual way one day when he was working as a schoolteacher. He was grading essays and realized that a student had turned in a blank paper. He was so happy that he didn’t have to read another essay that he felt inspired and wrote down the first line of the book: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.


BREAK IN THE DAY

It’s amazing to think that such a small event started off the classic story that is The Hobbit, which in turn lead to the epic Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

I guess sometimes all you need is a little break in the day to accomplish something worthwhile, that’s how I feel about reading books on my phone. And though I won’t be writing any epic novels I’ll sure have plenty more opportunities to read them now.