Lots of Fish in the Sea

          While in the bank this morning, I heard the woman behind me in line declare (somewhat scornfully) to the person on the other end of the cellphone connection, "There's a lot of fish in the sea." I have not been able to get the phrase out of my mind. Even though I can attest to the validity of this statement after scuba diving for a decade, the denizens of Florida’s reefs and shallows are not the image that has nagged at me all afternoon. Instead, I focused on the shelves of books that proliferate in my home.

            Books. Books. Books. I am addicted to them. I used to believe the printed word was the basis of my addiction; that was before I discovered the portability of e-books, audio-books and that BOTH could be loaded on my iPod/iPad to be enjoyed nearly everywhere. I was standing in a really, really long grocery line the other evening paging through The Iliad on my iPod when the woman in back of me asked what I was doing.  Her curiosity had been aroused because she could not see my earbuds and wondered if I had new ones that were invisible. When I replied that I was reading Homer, she grinned and asked, “ Is the sea still wine-dark?” WOW! I had an instant new friend. We paid for our supplies and adjourned to O'Charley’s for a drink and stuffed mushrooms. When we left an hour later, Sheryl had decided to buy an e-reader on the way home. I had made a convert to the digital age.

            However, the book-addict whose digital conversion I have most enjoyed has been my Mom. She spent my formative years espousing the joys of reading…in her 70’s she found audio-books and discovered that “reading” can also be “listening.” Then last year my brother gave her a Kindle and she currently has nearly 100 books loaded. She espouses her device because it weighs less than many of the hardback books she owns and as she approaches 90, she admits her wrists and arms are not as strong as they used to be. Plus, she can carry her books with her in her pocketbook.

Aside:  As we progress deeper into the 21^st century and delve more into the elastic nature of literacy, we need to consider seriously the notion that encouraging students to “read” books aurally will expose many to texts they would never sit down and look at. Is that wrong? Is it heretical from a teacher of Language Arts? Is the nature of language evolving as literacy does?

            Back to my addiction.  I remember from some research paper done by a former student that there are about 30,000 fish varieties in the world. I have not read 30,000 books, but I was intrigued and began to count my volumes. I stopped at 413.  This counting offered demonstrative proof that I am eclectic, as my collection involves more than a dozen genres and ranges from an etiquette text written in 1848 to the latest Clive Cussler adventure.  This counting also made me wish I had paid attention to Mrs. Day, the Children's Section librarian of the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers. She tried over and over again when I was in 4th grade to get me to write an index card for every book I finished. I never got into the habit, which I regret because I could use that resource when trying to remember the title of a long forgotten novel. Case in point - Mom and I read a science fiction book back in the late 60's-early 70's wherein the Venusians who came to save Earth had a spaceship that morphed into a VW Beetle and when no one listened to their message, made all the coffee in the Pentagon turn green! We remember lots of details but neither the author nor title.  

            I have wandered off topic again. Books are vital to my happiness. It matters not if those books are pick-them-up-and-turn-the-pages ones, audio ones or e-prints. As long as I have something to read that stimulates my mind.  Just imagine how wonderful my life will be when Apple tweaks the iPod so that I can use it underwater. I can float 40 feet underwater surrounded by parrot fish munching on the reef life and read Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.