Coraline by Neil Gaiman (e-book version): I'm no stranger to e-books, having been involved with Baen Books program for a couple of years now. But when I was searching the local library's database on-line, I noticed that a bunch of books were available as e-books, and couldn't for the life of me figure out how that was possible. So, being the curious gal I am, I had to find out. It's actually a very simple system... you "check out" an e-book, and a copy is made available for you to download. Once it's downloaded, you must use Adobe Reader 6 to decrypt it and read it. After 28 days, the copy is "deactivated" and cannot be opened anymore. You can also choose to "return" it early, and Adobe removes the file for you. I used Coraline as my test case, as it was the first e-book in the listings that I recognized as something I wanted to read. In any case, I downloaded the book a couple of days ago, read it tonight, and "returned" it to the library when I finished reading.
I wish someone had warned me not to read this book before trying to go to sleep. This book is truly creepy. It's one of those books that will deeply disturb the adult mind while building the imagination of young minds. As Neil himself says (to paraphrase), the kids love it, the adults have nightmares. In the daylight, I'm sure I will admire the book greatly... but here in the depths of the night knowing that it would be fruitless to try to sleep I'm just hearing every noise of the house settling as an ominous warning, and I wish I had my own little mouse circus to give me some advice. At least there aren't any doors that open on brick walls in this house. I think this story will stick with me, and I think that someday I'm going to have to get a real copy for my library (it would fit in ok with the gentler Oz books) just to fully appreciate the Dave McKean artwork. So this one gets a strong recommendation from me along with a warning to adults to not read it at night. 
Some final thoughts on the e-book system. Limited copies are available to "check out", so you can still end up with a waiting list on the books. Also, no security system is completely secure, so it's possible that some enterprising hacker has already found a way around the limitations imposed by Adobe. Another downside is the mere act of reading on a computer screen. While I can handle it now, I'm sure my eyes won't let me in a few years. A short book like Coraline is much easier than a long novel on the eyes, but some folks might even have trouble with that much. On the plus side, it's definitely a case of "instant gratification"... I want to read the book, and moments later there it is for me to read. E-books will never replace paper books for me, but it's nice to have them as an option.
0 comments:
Post a Comment