The new way to read.

I got an iTouch for Christmas; I had resisted the whole mp3 thing because I just don’t like to wear headphones, and that seemed a requisite part of the mp3 listening experience. Two events conspired to change my mind:

1. We had houseguests. One of them had an iPhone; he was showing it off and I thought it was the neatest gadget ever. Not the phone part, but everything else… and the everything else = the iTouch.

2. I joined a gym. The one time in life when you really really want some rockin tunes is when you are toiling away on an elliptical trainer, trying NOT to focus on the timer, counting down how many more minutes of torture you have to endure. Having the option of watching a movie instead of listening to mere music? Immensely appealing.

So I asked for an iTouch for Christmas, and Greg was happy to oblige.

The problem is that now, whenever I see a small electronic gadget with a pretty color screen, I am compulsed (hey, yeah, that’s a word) to touch the screen and get really irritated when nothing happens. I expect all my gadgets to be touch sensitive and it just really stinks that they are not. So old school. So low tech.

However, my iTouch has become the new way for me to read books. I mean of course, to listen to books being read to me, because I am not trying to read them on that tiny screen. It is perfect for folding laundry, washing dishes, or drowning out the screaming tantrums of an almost-three year old who DOES NOT WANT TO GO TO BED. I highly recommend it. I just finished listening to Persuasion, one of the Jane Austen novels that I had neither read nor seen a movie adaptation of. Can I just say that Captain Wentworth’s letter to Anne in chapter 23 is the best thing I have ever read? You don’t know what I am talking about? Pity. Go out RIGHT NOW and buy the book. Don’t skip ahead; you need to read it all. After that letter, just go on and skip the rest, because nothing else matters.

My only problem now is… what to read, ahem, listen to… next. Suggestions? Nothing depressing; nothing too violent; nothing that in any way harms children or mothers. If is an Oprah Book Club book… forget it. Other then that, I’m open to anything!