Every NOOK and Cranny . . .

It's Amanda's fault!  If she hadn't needed a new modem I wouldn't have been in the electronics section of Target and I never would have known they even carry Nooks.  But she did, and I was, and they do - so I succumbed to temptation and bought myself a Nook Color.

I've been putting off getting an e-reader of any form because I have quite a bit of money invested in books that are lined up on my dresser waiting to be read, and a membership in the Doubleday Book Club, which offers amazing deals on the latest hardback books.  I was also afraid of the temptation of having an entire Barnes and Noble store available at a click and possibly bankrupting the family purchasing books I could have gotten at the library for free.  I was content with my old-school, tree-killing, paper books.  Then Dave got a smart phone.  Maybe it's his fault.

Amanda has been asking for a smart phone for several years and, to be honest, I just didn't get it.  All I knew was that it costs more money.  I've always thought teenagers' cell phones should dial 9-1-1 and their mother, and that's it. Why would anyone need to Facebook or play games from their phone?  But then Dave got one so that he would have access to grain markets when he was out of his office, and the grandsons came for Thanksgiving.  These two things are connected because they happened at about the same time and because the first thing 7-year-old Grandson did - while still in the car on the way home from the airport - was grab Granddad's phone and download Angry Birds.  If you're not familiar with Angry Birds, it's a game where you shoot various types of birds at pigs in an attempt to get revenge for the pigs' theft of the bird eggs - thus the reason for their anger.  It's silly and corny and juvenile . . . and totally addicting.  The boys showed me how to play and I was hooked.  I have now played every level of Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons 2011, Angry Birds Seasons 2012, and Angry Birds Rio.  I was saved from this torture only by the fact that there were no more levels.  Hmmm . . . it could be the grandsons' fault!   (By the way, when Amanda explained to us that she was the last kid on the planet without a smart phone, we felt guilty and got her one for Christmas, so no calls to Social Services, please.)

Once the Angry Birds frenzy had cooled, I discovered another use for smart phones.  You can play Scrabble with all your friends!  If you weren't aware of this, you need to get Words With Friends immediately (and my user name is mrschupa - ask me to play).  Anyway, all of these things combined to make me see that, while not actually a necessity for most of us, having a smart phone could be fun - and who doesn't need more fun? Unfortunately, we used our only available upgrade getting a certain daughter an iPhone, so I would have to wait about nine months until we were eligible for another.  But did you know that you can do all these things from a Nook? (probably from a Kindle also, but I have Amazon issues)  Basically a Nook is all the fun of a smart phone AND an e-reader.  Ok, it doesn't make phone calls, but I've got a cheap-o cell phone for that.

I've had my lovely Nook for a couple weeks now, and I love it.  I've purchased two books - The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (total waste of money!), and a pre-order for Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (AKA The Bloggess - as in www.thebloggess.com  If you've never read her blog, you really should.  It's crying funny! Start with the story of the cobra and the mongoose - it had all of us rolling.)  I've also paid for a couple apps - The Bible app by Tecarta, which puts several translations at your fingertips, and how handy is that?  And, of course, Words With Friends because the free version is not available for Nook - but worth every penny.  I've also added some free books available from the state library.

So if you've wondered where I've been, or if you've been cheering the lack of pointless drivel lately, I've been hiding in a "nook", reading and Tweeting and playing Scrabble.  And it's not my fault!