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Dear Reader,
Guest author Kelly Irvin is a retired newspaper reporter and public relations professional who lives with her husband in Texas. They have two children, two grandchildren, and two ornery cats. She is a two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist, and the author of two romantic suspense novels with a third scheduled for publication in 2019.
Kelly is the author of several Amish series: Amish of Bee County, Bliss Creek Amish, and New Hope Amish and her newest release is Beneath the Summer Sun, the second novel in the four-book series Every Amish Season.
Email Kelly and say hello. She is giving away 10 copies of Beneath the Summer Sun. (Please be sure to include your preferred shipping address.)
Please welcome author Kelly Irvin...
Succumbing to the e-book
I recently turned sixty. I mention that only because it pertains to my topic. Real books versus e-books. Real books being the kind with paper and ink, the kind that feel good in your hands and look good on the shelf and smell like musty library. E-books simply don't have the same appeal, I argued with my bibliophile friends. Actually, they're not books at all. They're an extension of this world's love affair with screens. TV screens, computer screens, telephone screens.
I know there are those among you who can't believe old fossils like myself still exist. Folks who are being dragged into this modern-day era kicking and screaming. That isn't me. I love my computer. I love my smartphone. I love Netflix and Twitter.
But I draw the line at my books.
That is until recently. I love to read in the evenings. I sit in my glider rocker with a quilt made by a lovely reader and enjoy mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense novels. I delight in them. The chair is in the middle of the room. A lamp is situated by the sofa and another in a far corner. Because of mobility issues, I'm not comfortable sitting on the couch. I find myself angling the pages to catch the light from the kitchen when my husband is cooking. I turn my chair this way and that to no avail. The letters look squiggly and slightly out of focus. I try holding the book farther out and then closer. Nope. Mind you, this is while wearing my bifocals. (No, I don't need new glasses.)
I finally went so far as to sit at the kitchen table with the overhead light on. My husband wanted to know why. I explained my dilemma. He offered to find a battery-operated lamp to attach to the little table that holds my to-be-read pile next to my glider rocker.
Has it come to this? I buy large print books for my father, whose sight is impaired. It's a challenge to find his favorites, westerns, in large print and they're expensive. I often thought if he had internet and a computer--neither of which he has--I could get him e-books and he could adjust the font size and contrast to his needs.
Look who needs to do exactly that on her sixtieth birthday. Yes, I have become a connoisseur of e-readers out of necessity. I snuggle under my quilt with my kitty Jasmine on my lap and happily adjust that font size and contrast. We're so fortunate to live in the age of technology where it's possible to read our favorite novels in the format that best suits us.
I still read print books whenever possible--mostly in daylight hours--but I no longer turn my nose up at e-books. There's a seemingly endless supply just waiting to be read. What could be more exciting?
-- Kelly Irvin
Email Kelly and say hello. She is giving away 10 copies of Beneath the Summer Sun to readers. (Please be sure to include your preferred shipping address.)
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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