I was remembering today that I used to carry an emergency copy of Pride and Prejudice in my purse. A small paperback copy. Cover eventually fell off. No big deal. Even if it wouldn’t hold a bookmark, it doesn’t matter. I could pick it up, turn to pretty much any page, and kill a few boring minutes in the world of Lizzy and Jane.
I don’t do that anymore.
But also, I kind of do.
I don’t have a paper book in my purse, but also, I don’t carry a purse nearly as often as I carry a backpack. And the purse is usually this cute tiny thing that holds my phone and my wallet and nothing else.
And my phone carries all the books.
Not really, of course. I don’t own digital copies of EVERYthing. I’m not a crazy book hoarder. But also, I’m not bored anymore.
Are you?
Who gets bored when there’s scrolling to do? News or gossip or doom or comedy, there’s always something to look at on the internet.
Sometimes I’ll read books on my phone, but blame my old-lady eyes for not loving that. The iPad is better for book reading, right? Pages look like pages instead of text messages. But I could still open a copy on my phone and read P&P in a long checkout line or at the post office or the bank. I could still choose to get swept up to Pemberley at amy moment.
I’m not mourning my personal loss of the purse book because I could have it back at any time. But it is an interesting thing to think about (for me, at least) how my habits and my tendencies change as I keep moving through life.