These shelves hold traditionally bound Korean books, created with handmade paper

Even so, I couldn’t imagine giving up the tactile experience of reading an actual book. There is just something wonderful about holding a book in your hands. But I have a history of shunning new technology only to embrace it later. I was NOT giving up my records in favor of CDs, and now I only buy music digitally (and we are not even going to talk about my eight track tape player). I got on the DVD bandwagon a little more quickly, partially because they are so much easier to store than VHS tapes. And when digital download of movies becomes faster and higher quality (for the average person), I’ll be there.

But books aren’t like anything of these other mediums. Books have been around a long time in various forms. They’ve stood the test of time a lot longer than any other media. I liked my records, but I LOVE my books. Yet I couldn’t help but be intrigued when e-readers started coming out. I loved the idea of being able to carry around dozens (even hundreds) of books with me at once. I take the train to work, and so I always need reading material. With an e-book, if I finish my book while I am on the train, I can just download another. I found that idea pretty appealing.

I considered a Kindle for a long time, but I held back, partially because I have so many real books and partially because I didn’t want to spend money on a device that only does one thing. If I decided I didn’t like reading on it, then I had basically thrown the money away. If you’ve read my iPad review, then you’ll know that was the device that finally got my attention. If I decided I didn’t like reading books on it, it still does a zillion other things.

It took me about 10 minutes to decide I love reading books on my iPad. I read two series of books on the iPad, and I just flew through them. When I’d finish one, I could immediately start on the next. I didn’t have to wait to get home to grab the next one, or go to a bookstore. Even if I didn’t already have the next one, it only took a couple minutes for me to find and download it. The only drawback is that is very susceptible to glare, so it is difficult to read in full sunlight. I have to carefully choose my seat on the train so that I can still see what I am reading.

Reading a few books on the iPad really helped me to separate form from content. I still adore actual books, but as long as I can make myself comfortable while I am reading, it doesn’t really matter how the content is delivered. This leaves me with a dilemma. What should I do with the gazillions of books in my house? I had been slowly working my way through them, and I certainly don’t want to buy e-books of books I already own, but I’d love to divest myself of a huge chunk of them. Most of them came from BookMooch, so they entered my home fairly cheaply. If there was some way to cheaply transfer them onto my iPad without tons of labor, that would be great. I am not quite handy enough to make my own book scanner, although that would be awesome. I guess my plan will be to do another weeding and see what I can get rid of now, although I’ve already done a pretty good job of getting rid of things I don’t think I will read.

What will I keep? I have a big collection of books about Korean history and culture, many of which are out of print, and those are staying. There are a few art books (how-tos) with lots of full color illustrations, and those are staying (although I would like to see how one of those books would look on the iPad). I’m keeping my books on animal intelligence, plus a few favorite authors. But that leaves many, many books that I want to read and then get rid of permanently. It seems silly to buy books to read on the iPad when I have a house full of books yet to read, but I find myself less and less willing to carry around a book. No one is more surprised than I am that I don’t want to lug around a book anymore. The main thing holding me back from completely making the switch is the financial aspect. There is no reason to be buying new books for the iPad if I have plenty of actual books left to read. Buying books online isn’t really much cheaper (if at all) than buying hard copies.

Has anyone else made the switch from all actual books to all e-books, or somewhere in the middle? I’d like to hear about it.

This sounds like a ton of fun. Rachelle Rogers Knight’s reading journal, Read, Remember, Recommend, was released yesterday. In honor of the book release, Knight, better known online as Bibliobabe, has started a one year fiction reading challenge. With all the stuff going on in my life right now, I don’t have any hope of reading the most books, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to participate!

The journal itself sounds like a cut above most of the reading journals I’ve seen. Most reading journals don’t offer reading lists, and Read, Remember, Recommend has lots of different categories of lists, including National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner award winners. Each title has a series of check boxes, allowing readers to indicate whether you have or want the book and if you’ve read or would recommend it. There’s lots of books (and websites for that matter) that recommend books to read, but I really like Knight’s way of combining the recommendation and journaling elements. This is going on my wishlist! The book is listed as paperback on Amazon, but I’m told it’s actually spiral-bound, which is great. Journaling-type books are much better when they can lay open flat.

Because of the interactive nature of the book, it’s not available as an e-book. But something that would be REALLY fun (are you listening, Bibliobabe?) is an iPad app that would allow you to access the lists and keep track of the checkboxes in the application. It could work on an iPhone too, but because of the e-reader capabilities of the iPad, it would be an especially appropriate app for the device. If it allowed you to add your own notes about various titles, that would be even cooler. Given the choice between having yet another actual book in my house, or buying an app, I would definitely take the app. Since that isn’t currently an option, though, I’d really like to get a copy of the book and sign up for the challenge.

Update 4/6/10: I found I already have about 47 of the titles listed in the journal at home, so I guess those are going to the top of my reading pile.

Okay, I made that up. As far as I know, there is no such thing as Be Nice to Your Spouse Week. You should probably be nice to your spouse every day! But I bring it up because I am in the middle of reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. She selected a different area to focus on each month for a year, in order to try and increase her happiness (that is an extremely simplified version of what she did). I am only on the third month now, but I was so taken with February that I had to write about it now. The book would be worth it just for February alone.

That chapter’s focus was on love. Specifically, how we can’t change our spouse, so we should focus on what we can change – ourselves. This is all no brainer stuff, but I really like the way Rubin talks about it. She says of her husband Jamie, “I’d donate a kidney to Jamie without a moment’s hesitation, but I was intensely annoyed if he asked me to stop at the drugstore to pick up shaving cream.” Most of us – those of us who aren’t perfect – have let petty annoyances get in the way in our marriages, but this really crystalized for me how important it is to fight against that. I am NOT going to be perfect, but since reading this chapter, I’ve really tried to stop and think before I speak to my husband. When he does little things that annoy me, I seen to forget all the reasons that I love him and just focus on one petty thing. That’s not to say that I always need to agree with everything he says and does, but I have to learn to let some things go. I have no idea if my husband has noticed or will notice any change, but what I have already found out is that it does make me happier. It is a lot more relaxing when I can let things go and just enjoy his company.

I am putting most of my focus on two things, both of which Rubin discusses in the book. First, I am not complaining about work. I’m trying not to talk about work at all. It has to be kind of stressful for him to have to come home and listen to me complain about my stressful day when he just wants to relax. And the bonus is that then I don’t have to carry the stress home with me – I can just leave it at the office. It will be waiting for me when I get there tomorrow!

The other thing I am focusing on is not nagging. This morning, I started to tell him to move the bag of dog food out of the foyer and into the hallway, but I stopped mid-sentence. It didn’t have to be done that moment. I knew we would be cleaning the house this weekend before my Mom comes to visit, and I know it will get put away then. Normally, I would just do something like that myself, but I am no longer allowed to lift a 30 pound bag of dog food – definitely not worth the pain. There are some things that I simply cannot do (and some I just don’t want to do), and I’m trying to step back and remember that most things don’t need to be taken care of immediately unless I am willing to do them.

The New York Times had an article today about couples arguing on Facebook that I found rather appalling. The lack of respect these couples had for one another was staggering. I know it’s a different generation, but respecting the person you love shouldn’t really go out of style. But it was another reminder that not everything needs to be said. I am very sarcastic, and things that I intend to be funny sometimes just come out mean. Is it really worth it? Probably not. In her book, Rubin points out that we tend to be more kind and considerate to other people than to our spouses. That feels true to me. We should be kind and considerate to everyone, but that should INCLUDE our spouses.

Rubin started a blog (see chapter three) about the Happiness Project, and it is also a great resource. I think it is still worth reading the book, however, because it follows a very specific month by month plan and the blog is more general. A friend loaned me the book (even though I should be reading the books I already have) and I am really glad she did. I am not a big fan of self-help books, but I really like Rubin’s non-sappy, organized approach to the material. I related to so much of what she shares about herself in the book, that I found it much more useful than just some general book with a list of tips on how to be happier. The Happiness Project is really a memoir of how Rubin approached bringing more happiness to her life, and her personal successes and failures are what make the book work.

Stephen will probably read this (although I’m kind of hoping this will be one of the times he doesn’t read my blog), so it won’t be a very secret experiment. But unlike my year-long challenge, these are things I can change that won’t take any extra time out of my life. It just takes a little more thought before I open my mouth, and we could probably all stand to do that.

I am almost caught up now on my reading, which will hopefully make me less stressed about my challenge. Surprisingly, I’ve done much better with the weight loss portion than the reading portion, but I am trying to even that out. I finished Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child tonight. Child is one of my favorite authors, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in the book. It was well-written and exciting, but the plot was kind of a retread of Relic, which he wrote with Douglas Preston. When I read Relic the first time, probably 15 years ago, I couldn’t put it down. I ended up staying awake most of the night to read it. Now I couldn’t stay up all night if I wanted to, but I didn’t have that sense of urgency with Terminal Freeze anyway. I knew where it was going, and luckily, getting there was still a fun ride. His new book with Douglas Preston is coming out later this spring, and I am really looking forward to that one.

I’ve been collecting books from the Portable Library of Korean Literature, so I’ve decided to tackle those next. I only have seven of them, but there are probably at least 50 in the series. Most of the books are novellas or short story collections, and they usually only run about 100 pages. I am starting with A Dwarf Launches a Little Ball by Cho Se-Hui. It was first published as part of a short story collection in 1978, and is considered a modern classic in Korea and remains very popular. The translator of this edition, Chun Kyung-Ja, has won awards for her English translations of Korean literature, so I am hoping it is a good translation.

I am having surgery in about three weeks that will hopefully help with my back problems, which will probably result in a brief spike in weight loss like when I was sick a couple weeks ago. So don’t be worried if I lose weight a little more rapidly that week. I am just hoping it has a positive effect on my back. The bummer is that I won’t be able to walk Chiqui for awhile. Well, I can walk with her and Stephen, but I won’t be able to hold the leash.

Sorry for the delay in posting my challenge update from last Friday. It was my birthday weekend, and I was busy having fun! After losing more than six pounds in week six, I gained just under four pounds in week seven, making my overall weight loss so far a little more reasonable. Plus I seem to be over whatever stomach bug was ailing me.

Yesterday, I started reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I enjoyed it so much, I ended up finishing it yesterday too. I’m on week eight now, so I need to read two more books to catch up. I liked it so much that I put the movie in my Netflix queue. I hope I enjoy it as much as I did the book. I got rid of a few more books too. My friend’s daughter is an avid reader, and I went through my book donation boxes and picked out a bunch of titles I thought she might like. We need to make another trip to the library this weekend though, to get rid of the rest of these boxes.

Stephen put together this nifty graph of my January weight loss. It actually starts on January 14, when my weight was 212.9. For the first week or so of January, we were in Jamaica and I didn’t have access to a scale. My starting weight as of January 1 was 215.3. I lost 8.3 pounds during the month of January. My goal was to lose four pounds, so I exceeded my target. Without Jamaica, I might have done even a little better, but I couldn’t help eating at least a couple Jamaican patties.

I have been concentrating on trying to eat a balanced diet and get all the right nutrients. The hardest thing for me is getting enough protein. I am not a big meat eater, so on days when I don’t eat any meat, I try to eat other high protein foods. I use The Wellness Encyclopedia of Foot and Nutrition from UC Berkeley to look up nutritional information for various fresh foods. Unfortunately, this book is no longer in print in any of its various incarnations, although you can buy used copies on Amazon. There are probably lots of similar books on the market. I find this one to be extremely useful.

I read four books in January, which is almost on track. I am about one week behind. In January, I read the good, good pig by Sy Montgomery, Tongue by Kyung Ran Jo, Food Rules by Michael Pollan, and a children’s book called, The Wicked Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary Chase. I found the last one when boxing up books for donation and figured I could read it very quickly (like an hour or less) and then give it away. It doesn’t seem to be in print anymore, but it was originally published in 1968 (as The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden), so there are probably zillions of used copies floating about. I would have loved this book when I was about 10 – lots of creepy elements. A quick and enjoyable little read. I really wanted to be reviewing the books I’ve read so far, but I haven’t had a chance yet. Of the first four books, Tongue is the only one that I definitely would not recommend. It may be the translation, but I found it a little dry and slow.

I haven’t been too diligent about updating my blog, but luckily I have been diligent about my challenge. I went to the doctor for my annual checkup yesterday and I was down to 205 lbs. I got a big surprise though. Every time my height has been measured for the past 20 or so years, I have been 5’9″. Yesterday, I was 5’8 1/4″! I thought I was a bit young (a couple weeks shy of 42) to be shrinking, but I asked the nurse if it could be related to my ruptured and herniated discs. That is exactly what it was. I had no idea it would affect my height – especially not that much. I am still calculating my BMI based on 5’9″ though! I figured the change in height didn’t affect my body composition – my spine is simply compressed.

I got a little behind in my reading because I had been driving to work. I started taking the train to work again, so I am getting caught up this week. But the big news is that I have decided to let go of some of the books in my To Be Read (TBR) pile. I will never get through 911 books, so I decided to keep only the ones that I REALLY want to read. I have donated about 150 books so far, and I have another 150 or so boxed up. I got more boxes and I think I can probably get rid of another 200. This will put a huge dent in the massive numbers of books I have around the house. I feel better already! I am donating all the like new books to the Friends organization of my local library, and sending the beat up ones to Goodwill.

It turned out to be a busier weekend than I expected, and I got NO writing done. It also wasn’t a very good weekend in terms of food. I still had a calorie deficit, but in the case of Sunday, it was only a deficit of 11. I was feeling a little down, probably because my back is bothering me and because of work stress, and I always have trouble with eating in moderation when I am down. I did a little better on Monday and had a 500 calorie deficit, and I feel like I am back on track today.

Because I had such a crummy food weekend, I decided to change my week three book to Food Rules An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan. I haven’t read Omnivore’s Dilemma or In Defense of Food, but I have heard wonderful things about them. I chose Food Rules because it is a quick read with concrete advice, as opposed to being about the science and history of the western diet. Here’s a brief description from Amazon: “Michael Pollan, our nation’s most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat.”

I hope to get caught up with various posts here and on my travel blog by the end of this coming weekend. Despite setbacks on Sunday, I think I am on track for my weight loss and reading goals for Friday. I have a tendency to neglect updating my websites, even when the news is good. I am trying to be a little more disciplined about that, which is why I switched to the blog format. It is much easier to update since I don’t have to write code for every page.

I picked up Tongue by Kyung Ran Jo at the San Francisco Airport when we were there for six hours last week. I know getting new books kind of defeats the purpose of the challenge, but I like reading Korean authors, and I knew I would finish the good good pig quickly, so I bought it. I finished the good good pig on January 4, and the review is half written, so I try and get it finished and posted within the next couple days. I started Tongue yesterday, and with all the plane travel, I am nearly finished with it. Here’s a description of Tongue from the publisher’s website:

“Emotionally raw and emphatically sensual, Tongue is the story of the demise of an obsessive romance, and a woman’s culinary journey toward self-restoration and revenge. When her boyfriend of seven years leaves her for another woman, the celebrated young chef Jung Ji-won shuts down the cooking school she ran from their home and sinks into deep depression, losing her will to cook, her desire to eat, and even her ability to taste. Returning to the kitchen of the Italian restaurant where her career first began, she slowly rebuilds her life, rediscovering her appreciation of food, both as nourishment and as sensual pleasure. She also starts to devise a plan for a final, vengeful act of culinary seduction.

Tongue is a voluptuous, intimate story of a gourmet relying on her food-centric worldview to emerge from heartbreak, a mesmerizing, delicately plotted novel at once shocking and profoundly familiar.”

Stephen finally made the case for me posting my weight, so I have reluctantly posted my starting weight over in the right hand column. Yikes! He correctly points out that posting my weight makes the number more real to me and probably makes it more interesting for people to follow my challenge. So there it is. My calorie deficit was a little bigger than it should be today (1234 calories), but I HAD to get some shopping done for our trip tomorrow, and so I missed lunch. Believe me, I would much rather be eating lunch than buying clothes. My brother-in-law was kind enough to decide to get married in Jamaica in January, but finding warm weather-friendly clothes this time of year is not easy, even in Northern California.

Six of the 913 books I need to read

It took a couple days, but I finally finished scanning all my TBR (to be read) books. It wasn’t as horrible as I feared. I have 913 books to read. That may sound like an insanely high number to some, but I was afraid it was approaching 2000 books. I didn’t scan my gazillions of travel books because I just save those for when I am planning a trip. I also didn’t scan about 30 or so books I have already read but plan to keep – most of those are art books or books on Korean history. There is a way to publish my list of books from Delicious Library, and as soon as I figure it out, I will do that.