Traveling with Books

Fact: I don't like coffee. I just like saying Coffee Clutch in my best and deepest New York accent. Considering I'm a New Yorker, I'm pretty freaking good at it. So I've got my tea and I hope you have your heated beverage of choice, because it's time to gab the day away.

My last two discussion posts were about the viability of print books/the practicaliy of e-books and the uses of libraries. This discussion takes the mere conversations that are those discussions and turns them into a real life situation.

How? You might ask (yes, I am channeling my inner infomercial).

Well, as some of you already know, I hopped on an airplane this past Monday night, London bound for two months and then Israel bound after that. I know, you're jealous, I would be too. But here's one thing you shouldn't be jealous of: the very few books I was able to stuff in my bag before I ran out of room and weight. Two suitcases, 100 pounds - however you put it, it's just not enough for all of the pretty clothing AND all of the books. And I'm not one to sacrifice clothing, even if it means I get to have all of the pretty books with me.

After crying about it for a week, my brain kicked into overdrive and figured out a solution I, as a lover of the actual, physical book, don't love but now cling to like its the answer to all of the questions in the world: e-books. My wonderful iPad is going probably going to see just as much of Europe as I will. We're both VERY excited, I assure you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not HAPPY about this. I'm all about having an actual book to tote around with me and I wish I could bring 50 books with me, but realistically, I could only fit about 10. So portability and weight are what make my iPad disturbingly invaluable to me on this trip, despite my desperate attempts to keep myself surround by printed books.

But then there's the question: where do I get the e-books to read on my iPad? Obviously I could buy them, but I don't really want to buy e-books of books I already have hard copies of at home. Furthermore, London? I'm told it's a really expensive city. So as much as I LOVE to read, I'd rather spend my cash on being the biggest tourist ever.

The answer? That's right, THE LIBRARY. Guys. Talk about life saver. I can download e-books from my library directly into my Kindle Cloud reader. It's maybe the greatest thing that has ever happened on the interwebs. I actually checked my TBR books on my shelves against the library e-book database in order to assess which books I needed to shove into my bags and which I would be able to download from my library. Is it wrong that this makes me feel like an evil genius? If so, I don't really care, because I do and that's just the way it is.

So really, in the event that you thought my last two discussion posts were rhetorical, know your wrong and enjoy my evil genius. *insert evil laugh here*

Do you often find yourself separated from your books for long periods of time? How do you deal with your separations anxiety? Let me know in the comments below!