Great book leads to e-book quandary

Normally, reading gives me immense pleasure. But thanks to the competing e-book formats on the market, I'm getting the exact opposite of pleasure (Pain? Agony? Glenn Beck?) trying to solve a reading-related quandry.

I read a review about this great book The Other Wes Moore : One Name, Two Fates. The synopsis from Barnes and Noble.com: Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same decaying city within a year of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.

The story looks at how, despite the similar backgrounds, critical decision points and adult influences in each young man's life ultimately lead them to their wildly divergent current positions. As the mom of a Black son, I'm fascinated to read about these young men and how they and their families successfully and unsuccessfully navigate the difficult influences of modern urban living.

But the book isn't available in the e-book format I want for perusing on my phone (Mobipocket) at a good price. It's the same price as hardback! Or it's available in the proprietary e-book formats of Amazon's Kindle, Barnes and Noble's Nook reader or an iPad/iPhone reader for $10-$12 less. But I don't have any of those devices! Aaargh: I feel like I'm back in the days of Betamax vs. VHS vs. Blu-Ray vs. DVD.

I think it's a book I'll want to keep in perpetuity and refer back to or loan out, so I may have to spring for the hardcopy and the e-book for ease of reading right now (while putting the baby to bed at night). I know: so 2002, but necessary I guess.
 
How do you prefer to read these days? E-book or real book?

Nana's cart before the horse and Ava's feeding herself

Phone rings. It's my mom, who takes care of Ava in the mornings: "Hey, can she have crackers?"
Me: Sure. Wait: what kind?
Mom: Saltines.
Me: Oh sure.
Mom: Good. Because she's been tearing these up!
Me: Well it's good we got that cleared up in advance then.

I actually started giving her Goldfish crackers last night. They don't have transfats, like one of my formerly favorite snack crackers White Cheddar flavored Cheez-its. I'm so bummed those are now banned from the grocery list. I haven't seen a sufficiently tantalizing alternative at PCC or Whole Paycheck Foods, despite the dizzying array of organic sea salt-encrusted, herb enfused, multi-grain laden cracker/crispbread options to be had.

We met up with our PEPS peeps this weekend and caught up with each other and all the babies, who are each progressing at their own unique pace. Ava is the oldest by a couple weeks I believe, so we joked that she'll be the one driving them on teenage escapades since she'll be the first one with a license. Which led to the folks recounting their own teenage car misadventures. Like J. telling the story about driving his mom's car a few blocks away to "ask" if he could borrow it and getting into an accident on the way, totalling it. Ah, good times. Can't wait to regale Ava with that one.

J., a high school basketball/academic star and BMOC, has much better stories from his teen years than me. His stories involve a little partying with the other cool kids, a few youthful transgressions and some escapades that went up to the line but never crossed it, owing to a mom who laid down the law: "You will excel in school or you don't play sports. I don't care if the school district says you only need a C average to play. I say you need a B+/A-. And if I get called up to the school for some problem you've created and I have to take off work, you don't play sports and you won't sit down for a week." Yeah, that's pretty simple to understand, even for a teenage boy. So he had fun, but kept it to a dull roar. At least, in the stories we know about.

In contrast, my stories from high school all have pretty much the same theme: "So I was home studying all weekend and Monday at school I found out there'd been this big party over the weekend that all the cool kids were at. It sounded like it was a lot of fun. The end."

Or "We hung out all weekend at my friend's house reading books from the library and watching a VHS tape of Eddie Murphy's live concert. Then at school on Monday I found out there'd been this big get together over the weekend that all the cool kids were at. It sounded like it was a lot of fun. Then I went to go work on my college apps. The end."

Not the most riveting tales, but at least I don't have to worry that friends from high school or college will come to visit when Ava's a teenager and start off a story with "Remember when we woke up with those rug burns on our face?!" Actually, no, no I don't. Thankfully. More likely it'll be, "Remember we raced to see who could read that book the fastest and we got those paper cuts?!" Such were my extremely nerdy, book-filled young adult adventures.

I guess if Ava ends up somewhere between the extremes of hearing about the party days later and being the one who's presence makes it a party, I'll be fine with that.

On the development front, as I was telling the folks at PEPS that she's been trying to feed herself but hasn't quite managed to get anything in her mouth, I looked down at her on my lap as she carefully maneuvered a cheerio into her mouth with both hands. Two days later, she's on a goldfish cracker binge. Aah, babies. They grow up so fast.

The Anti 9 to 5 Guide reading

I'm at the University Bookstore listening to Michelle Goodman, author of the book The Anti 9 to 5 Guide about how to craft a fulfilling life without having to work in a cubicle.




I've heard her talk at freelancer events before and she's great. She wrote the book as a way of sharing some of the things she did wrong when she broke into the freelancing ranks.
I'm definitely of the generation that is not approaching life with the idea of getting on the career train, buckling up, and getting off 30 years later.




In fact, I've built a solid career in communications by working at several successive jobs that built my skill set, increased my responsibilities, and provided great experience and contacts. Although I've been in the field for nearly 15 years, the longest I've worked at one job is four years. The rest ranged from one and a half to two years. And I'm still in touch with bosses and co-workers from every one. The serial employment appoach, which Michelle Goodman touched on, works these days. Her book is more about serial freelance, part-time, flex-time or other non-traditional/non-9 to 5 employment, but I think some of the same rules apply.




I'm looking forward to reading the book. The sections I skimmed while waiting for the reading to begin were pretty funny and informative. And I'm always looking for ways to do more freelancing, since I have SO much free time after spending time with my husband, family and dog, working 45-50 hours, serving on a board, volunteering as a mentor, and chairing a committee for a service group. ;-) But you know: you make time for the things you value. Or you should.