flip and read
I can't believe it took me this long to jump on the bandwagon, but times are desperate. I have virtually nothing to read at home apart from some of the titles on my Kindle and the small stash of books we shipped over, and which I've already read, several times over. I brought those over here because they've been a part of my life for so long (some of the titles I've read and cherished since my teenhood) that it would feel strange to be without them. I guess these books are one of the rare things I'm sentimental about.
As I've written before, I don't mind reading off a Kindle but I am definitely a fan of traditional print books. The smell, the crack of the spine, the physical weight of the thing. I've bought a couple of books off Book Depository but I've been itching for more, much more. The same goes for magazines. I've been known to hoard my magazines forever because I like a certain article or a certain photograph and it comforts me to have them around. Too bad the magazines I like to read are exorbitantly priced here. The next best alternative: reading the digital edition on my iPad.
Which is why I say I can't believe it took me this long to discover that it really isn't too bad after all. Beggars can't be choosers, perhaps, but I must say that the digital editions, with their interactive features and their handy hyperlinks, have swayed me favourably into becoming a fan. I have bought three subscriptions over the last two days, and am relishing each page the way I used to, with print magazines. Believe it or not, it helps me get up in the cold darkness of the morning because I know I can squeeze in a few magazine pages here and there while I have breakfast. Apart from keeping me entertained and distracted when the domesticity gets too much for me, it also gives me something to look forward to every month.
Each yearly subscription costs less than a meal at a casual restaurant here. I'll take the subscription over the food anytime. J is more than happy to pay for anything I want to read, print or digital, because reading keeps me sane and there's nothing worse than being trapped at home with a very, very bored and thus very angsty wife.
I'm thinking about forking over the CHF175 annual fee to join an English library here in Geneva. They have quite a good selection (The Bun and I visited it over the summer for their weekly kids' story hour) and I always prefer to borrow books because I tend to only want to own the books that really resonate with me. Plus I love reading non-fiction, and it's hard to buy those kind of books online without a proper browse first. The thing to consider is whether I will borrow enough books to make it worth the fee. It covers the whole family though, so it would be nice for The Bun to visit the library with me to borrow some new kids' books. Bao gets use of the library at her playgroup, so she's covered. The Bun brings home a different book everyday from school and picks a library book once a week from the school library, but I'd like to nurture his love of books and it could be a nice activity for the both of us. And J? J probably does far too much reading for his job as it is; I think he doesn't do too badly in terms of leisure reading outside work, but a library membership is not an essential for him.
Maybe one of these days I'll drive over to the library to check out its shelves again before I decide if I should get a membership. Then again maybe I should just make use of the free bibliotheques all over the city and attempt to improve my French. When I was still learning it in school, my teachers made us students read little kid books so that we could work on our basic grammar and vocabulary before moving further. This wouldn't be a bad way to slowly build on my French, and perhaps The Bun would like it, too. He enjoys the French lessons at school and has been singing all sorts of French children's songs and teaching J and I bits of vocabulary, mostly about nature, animals, and the seasons.
But I digress! Back to my reward for handling dinner, bath and bed on my own with the two monsters tonight - silence, solitude, and my magazine on the sofa.
As I've written before, I don't mind reading off a Kindle but I am definitely a fan of traditional print books. The smell, the crack of the spine, the physical weight of the thing. I've bought a couple of books off Book Depository but I've been itching for more, much more. The same goes for magazines. I've been known to hoard my magazines forever because I like a certain article or a certain photograph and it comforts me to have them around. Too bad the magazines I like to read are exorbitantly priced here. The next best alternative: reading the digital edition on my iPad.
Which is why I say I can't believe it took me this long to discover that it really isn't too bad after all. Beggars can't be choosers, perhaps, but I must say that the digital editions, with their interactive features and their handy hyperlinks, have swayed me favourably into becoming a fan. I have bought three subscriptions over the last two days, and am relishing each page the way I used to, with print magazines. Believe it or not, it helps me get up in the cold darkness of the morning because I know I can squeeze in a few magazine pages here and there while I have breakfast. Apart from keeping me entertained and distracted when the domesticity gets too much for me, it also gives me something to look forward to every month.
Each yearly subscription costs less than a meal at a casual restaurant here. I'll take the subscription over the food anytime. J is more than happy to pay for anything I want to read, print or digital, because reading keeps me sane and there's nothing worse than being trapped at home with a very, very bored and thus very angsty wife.
I'm thinking about forking over the CHF175 annual fee to join an English library here in Geneva. They have quite a good selection (The Bun and I visited it over the summer for their weekly kids' story hour) and I always prefer to borrow books because I tend to only want to own the books that really resonate with me. Plus I love reading non-fiction, and it's hard to buy those kind of books online without a proper browse first. The thing to consider is whether I will borrow enough books to make it worth the fee. It covers the whole family though, so it would be nice for The Bun to visit the library with me to borrow some new kids' books. Bao gets use of the library at her playgroup, so she's covered. The Bun brings home a different book everyday from school and picks a library book once a week from the school library, but I'd like to nurture his love of books and it could be a nice activity for the both of us. And J? J probably does far too much reading for his job as it is; I think he doesn't do too badly in terms of leisure reading outside work, but a library membership is not an essential for him.
Maybe one of these days I'll drive over to the library to check out its shelves again before I decide if I should get a membership. Then again maybe I should just make use of the free bibliotheques all over the city and attempt to improve my French. When I was still learning it in school, my teachers made us students read little kid books so that we could work on our basic grammar and vocabulary before moving further. This wouldn't be a bad way to slowly build on my French, and perhaps The Bun would like it, too. He enjoys the French lessons at school and has been singing all sorts of French children's songs and teaching J and I bits of vocabulary, mostly about nature, animals, and the seasons.
But I digress! Back to my reward for handling dinner, bath and bed on my own with the two monsters tonight - silence, solitude, and my magazine on the sofa.