November 2017
I’d just received an email notice from my local library telling me that the copy of Jeffrey Archer’s Heads You Win I’d reserved last month is available for me. (This book, a new novel, was released November 1st and I was in the queue awaiting my turn. I love his stories, partly because they take place in so many locations around the world!)
I was visiting a friend in Austria and upon seeing the email said, “Ah, the book I want is available to read.”
“But how will you get it?”
“From the library,” I replied.
He looked at me quizzically. “What library though?”
“The LA Public Library,” I replied as I showed him those words on my iPhone’s screen and smiled, perhaps a bit mysteriously as I tapped the back of my iPhone adding, “right here. I’ll read it on Kindle.”
“Oh, he replied, “you have a Kindle too?”
“Yes, I said, right here in my iPhone.”
Then I let him off the hook with the words, “I have the apps.”
I’d signed up for Overdrive, a library app, the month I started traveling (years ago). It has been the way I borrow books; something I do when I am not near a library long enough, or am not near an English bookstore, or cannot afford the weight of a paperback. It works in conjunction with your own library membership. I actually sign into the Los Angeles Public Library website and take out a digital or audio version of my desired book there. I’m then able to download it as Kindle or ePub.
This time, however, rather than choosing a Kindle download, I selected ePub and I’m now going to read it using Libby, the book reader app that’s by Overdrive.
I’m pretty sure Overdrive/Libby is all over the USA. There are similar apps and library access in other counties as well.
An older Jeffrey Archer story. Decades ago, before cell phones existed, I was quite impressed by Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1975) — an excellent book for someone interested in the world.
So while staying at a hostel somewhere in Europe on my first multi-year travels, I was thrilled to book-swap for First Among Equals (1984). Of course, I was quickly hooked on the story. However my thrill ended when, getting to the conclusion, I realized the final chunk of pages was missing. I was enjoying my own life-story exploring some country between England and India at the time so although I wasn’t crushed by this, it was difficult to put the book down.
One day quite some time later, I found a copy in an English book store in India. Thinking I only had about 10 pages left to read, I asked the proprietor if he’d permit me to sit in the corner to finish the story. (For the record, being a good foreign guest, I offered him rupees to pay him for the rental.)
Well, my copy had been missing quite a lot more. I sat in the bookshop for hours too engrossed to move. Customers came and went, most commented about how engrossed I was. At one point the kind proprietor brought me a stool, though not wanting to interrupt my story.
I continued through the many twists and turns, as four men, each great and endearing in his own way, worked to become England’s next Prime Minister. I was sad for three men, happy for one, and so grateful to that kind bookstore proprietor. (As I again thanked that man, and again tried to give him the value of the book, he again refused it. I think he was as happy as me.
Ah, to have traveled yet more and lived yet for more people’s lives vicariously… And this time this great read brought me more in-person travel experiences.