Turn to Books for Mother's Day, Graduation

Want to get mom a page-turner for Mother's Day? Give a grad a good book? Well, of course I wholly support that notion.

You could go for the easy choice - a book about moms, like the ones I reviewed for The Plain Dealer a few Mother's Days ago (now available on Kindle). Or wrap up the resume-building book of the month for your grad and cross 'get a gift' off your to-do list.

Or you could take a different tack and not point out mom's mommy-ness (trust me, by the 6,000th time you've heard yourself referred by your parental moniker instead of your name, you get it) instead, celebrating what mom is in addition to all that maternal goodness.

Similarly, while the grads you know will surely appreciate money, awesome business card holders, money, briefcases, money, how-to-get-a-job books, or money, perhaps they too would welcome a chance to shake off the label ("student" or "graduate") they've worn so long, and would revel in a little token honoring their personhood.

To stir your imagination, then - 

Is mom a shutterbug?
Beyond Snapshots and several other nice titles for moms who are ready to take their fancy cameras off the Auto setting and take awesome photos of children (theirs or someone else's) can be found at my favorite photo-tip site, Digital Photography School.

Speak to her romantic side...
Book clubs are snapping up and tittering about 50 Shades of Grey and it's the first of a trilogy, so there's more where that came from if she likes it. ("It" being erotica, aka soft porn, but quite well written - at least, so I've heard.)

Or maybe mom's into yoga, beekeeping or blackjack. I think you get my point. Before she was a mom, that woman had her own personality, her own interests, her own je ne sais quoi - and she still does. (It's just really, really hard to see behind the mommy mask.)

Take the same approach to shopping for a graduate, and your gift is sure to stand out. You can go for the obvious - pick one of those well-timed 'how to get a job' books - or you could think, what does he like to do? Where does she wish she could go? and go from there.

If you can't come up with a title that's a perfect fit, you can always fall back the cliched but pleasingly psychedelic Dr. Seuss title, Oh! the Places You'll Go! It appears on everyone's annual what-book-to-get-for-a-grad lists, but frankly, I think giving that as a graduation gift screams "amateur," don't you? 

On the other hand, there are those grads you have to buy a gift for whom you'll never really get to know (boss's son, for one) and such standard fare is appropriate in those cases. Maybe The Naked Roommate isn't appropriate for the boss's son, but I couldn't leave it out of this piece - it's my all-time favorite title for a high school graduate.  OK, now off to shop, ya'll. You have some gifts to buy!
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What to get the teacher?
I'd be silly not to mention this great title for a teacher gift: 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of .... OK, Cleveland comes to mind (I know the author, wink, wink) but several dozen other cities also occur to me. That's because the 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of .... books are available for Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and oodles of other major metro areas. After a long school year, I'm pretty sure most teachers would love to spend a few hours on a nice, quite, peaceful trail that doesn't have to be graded, copied, or discussed at a meeting. Just sayin'.

Why Social Media is good for reading

JK Rowling finally did it (well, her publisher did) and now that all seven Harry Potter books are on available for e-readers, we can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Not that the books are available, but that because they are, we may finally be free of those silly articles predicting the death of e-readers.

Actually, next to the prediction (made by every generation since Socrates, at least) that civilization is coming to an end thanks to "today's youth," the assertion that reading is dead is probably a close second. I disagree.

Kindles and all manner of screens mean we may be buying and turning fewer paper pages, but we're reading more.  What evidence do I have for this crazy idea? My teenager has bought two books, with her own money, to read on her iPhone. If I'm crazy, well, so is the rest of the world.

In fact, I'll prove it by saying this: social media is making better readers of us all.

Admit it; you've probably been tempted to "like," "+1" or otherwise recommend an article by one of those catchy headlines. Then after you click, you (the responsible person who doesn't want to be seen as an indiscriminate button-pushing sharer) will read the whole article. I mean, do you really want to end up in a discussion with someone quizzing you on your opinion about something in the bottom paragraph if you haven't read the article? Uh-huh. That's what I thought - a little online repartee can convince you to go back and read the ones you really just skimmed, and shared, too hastily.

And then there are books, those dinosaurs we carry (yet and still!) to read on beach vacations and in doctors' offices. How many online reading circles are out there? A lot more than there were 20 years ago, and thanks to the peer pressure applied by fellow Facebook users eager to weigh in with opinions to impress their friends (you saw The Hunger Games before you read it? OMG!) I bet that you've purchased or checked a book out of your library just because of the buzz it got from someone's Tweets or Pinterest boards. See? Peer pressure isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Of course, if you think I'm wrong, be sure to tell me. Just know this: I dare you to share this until you've read the whole thing.
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From Mary Ruefle, in Someone Reading a Book Is a Sign of Order in the World, comes this excellent explanation of why reading will never be passe:

Reading...is a great extension of time, a way for one person to live a thousand and one lives in a single lifespan.

Read on, my friends!

Best books you read in 2011?

What books are you glad you cracked open in 2011? What books were most rewarding? Are there some you'll re-read, or recommend to complete strangers, because they so moved, shocked, educated, or entertained you?

Well by all means, don't keep secrets like that. Please share the titles you loved the most this year. Or - just as importantly - tell us which ones aren't worth the time.

I'm partial to Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto, and not just because I think it's accurate to call it a lifesaver. I'm recommending it to just about anyone who will listen (or not run away). Thirteen Reasons Why is still top-of-mind. Not just for the young adult (YA) market, it may also interest parents of YAs.  And I'd be remiss is if i didn't mention 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cleveland, now wouldn't I?

OK! It's you're turn. Please, tell us all about those gems you pulled from library shelves, snagged at your neighbor's garage sale, ordered for your Kindle or other e-reader, or just finally (!) uncovered on your nightstand. We're about to turn the page to 2012, after all, and we're going to need something to read...

Dear Kindle, I Love My Paper

I didn't want and didn't get a Kindle for Christmas. My former mother-in-law wasn't so lucky.

She didn't want one, but she got one.

My ex-hubby, who gave her Amazon's wonder product, is still laughing. He thinks it's all about age and says he's enjoyed "watching her struggle" to master the third-generation electronic reader. I defended the woman, as I always will a fellow reader and book lover. Notice how that's no longer redundant. (Before I continue, said ex-MIL is no luddite. If she wants to read an LCD screen, she'll manage.)

And that distinction - that you can love to read and have no affinity for the printed word - may save newspapers, the (possibly-in-need-of-a-new-name) publishing industry, and life as we (who cut our teeth on board books) know it.

My daughter, and too many of her Facebook peers, professes to "hate" reading. I hope that's a miscommunication, that they really loathe the form - OMG! my mother reads books - and not the function. That is, the reading.

Once again, I'm a tweener. While I'm tech-savvy enough to conduct my own Facebook research, thank you, my life-long love of books won't easily translate to the pixelated page. Paper feels good. Smells. Not always good, but it's a smell. It's real. Ink can smudge. In short, reading hints at being alive. It's really, really, really personal. Sure you can make notes in the margin of a Kindle. But you can't dog-ear the pages. And what about the bookmark, like a steady hand guiding me through the rough passages, patiently holding my place while I'm away?

I'm realistic enough to accept/smart enough to be thrilled by digital accessibility. Libraries are jumping on Kindle (and competitors) as well they should.

But reading the Sunday paper at the breakfast table, its form changing as it follows me throughout the day, is a joy I won't abandon anytime soon. I don't need batteries or a protective case for The Plain Dealer. In fact, those as-yet-unread sections I carry can protect me from a sudden shower, dirty dog, or unwanted conversation. As opposed to Kindle, which at that cute toddler stage only invites chitchat.

Yesterday, I lingered over coffee while marveling at the optimism of building a $33 million aquarium downtown, read Terry Pluto's wonderful column on Jesus's messed-up family in the car, and toted the Arts Section (with its book reviews!!) to the evening's soccer game. Sure, I could have taken Kindle along. But the paper is so much...softer. Sweeter. Pulpier.

But pulp free progress marches on. Perhaps some of us will acquiesce and turn to the shiny reader as early as this month. Thanks to the International Consumer Electronics Show, which starts Thursday, the price is sure to drop on Kindles and all electronic readers (as well as the uber-cool iPad).

Til then - at least - the books are piling up on my nightstand. Which is exactly how I like it. Thank you, dear friends and fellow readers, for not giving me a Kindle. Just yet.

Please support libraries and your local booksellers in 2011.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~