Read an EBook Day

I’m sure most of you are aware that there is a day, national or merely desiring to be national, of almost everything. Pancake day. Hot dog day. Sister day. On and on. In fact I just peeked at the September days and was surprised and a little overwhelmed by the fact that there are five or six things declared national days just for September 1. I’m almost afraid to look at September 15 to see if it’s National Birthday Day since I personally know five or six other people who share my birthday.

September 1 has been declared National Forgiveness Day, Nathional No Rhyme (or Reason) Day, National Chicken Boy Day, National Hotel Employee Day.  There are more, but you’ll have to hunt those up yourself. I’m not moving on to September 2. I’ll just zoom straight to Spetember 18 which turns out to be National Read an EBook Day. Wait. Maybe I should mention that September 6 was National Read a Book Day. I have to admit to being all for that National Day. National Read an Ebook Day is nice too. I’m all for reading every day in whatever way works best for you.

I still like picking up a paper book. I know many of you do too. But I also like listening to audio books. That has really increased my reading opportunities. I also read ebooks. I used to read them on my iPad. Then I got a Kindle. I said I wouldn’t like reading on my phone, but never say never. Now I read on my phone. That’s because it’s usually in my pocket. That’s how I listen to those audio books too. Through my phone.

A few years ago, my husband had a medical emergency and had to go to an emergency room and ended up many hours later in the hospital. He was mostly sedated in the ER and didn’t need any attention from me. I had no book with me. I had my phone but no internet signal in the ER and no books loaded on my phone. After that, I downloaded Kindle on my phone. I did not want to be without reading material again. There are only so many times you can read the warning posts about this or that on an ER’s walls.

But who came up with National Read an EBook Day? Who came up with ebooks?

You might be surprised to know that a man named Rob Brown came up with the idea of ebooks back in 1930 after he watched his first talkie – a movie with sound. He looked to the future and saw books that would be like movie words in front of our eyes. He went no farther with his idea than writing about it. Then in 1949, a Spanish teacher, Angela Ruiz Robles invented the first automated book reader. He hoped to lighten the book load of his students. His inovative book reader never went into production and his prototype ended up at the National Museum of Science and Technology in A Coruña. Another twenty-two years went by before the internet came along and Project Gutenberg was founded and focused on creating electronic copies of texts and publications.

Of course, most of you know the rest of the story. Internet boomed. Internet bookstores became common. Books were printed in paper books as always, but also digitally too. A reader could go online, find a book, and download it immediately to be reading in minutes. Libraries jumped onboard with special apps for readers to borrow ebooks and audio books. Writers published their books, sometimes only in an e-version. People started carrying phones or ereaders loaded with hundreds of books. That is especially handy when someone is traveling. Where once a suitcase might be loaded down with books, now a person could carry all the books they wanted in their pocket or purse.

The image up top is a few of my downloaded books. It is so easy to download a book and keep its promise lingering in the nether world waiting for the perfect moment or time to read the story. You might also note that a couple of the books there are about showboats. I often read ebooks when I’m researching for a story. Those were so I could get a feel of how it would be to ride down the river on a showboat while writing my book, In the Shadow of the River.

Even when I know I’ll never get all the books I want to read read and that it is doubtful I’ll get all the books I own read, I’m still ready to buy more for my physical shelves and more for my electronic shelves. For sure, my electronic shelves are much neater than my physical ones.

I love books in all sizes, all shapes and all versions. In the photo some of the books that still have the new tag have been read – probably on my phone and for some reason that wasn’t recognized on my old iPad. I have most of the books I’ve written since ebooks were a thing downloaded as well. I used the ebook versions when I was doing the narration on those of my books I have narrated for audio. Turning a page on a Kindle is quieter. You need quieter when you are recording an audio book.

I didn’t do the audio for Angel Sister, but here is the dedication for that book and the first page on my ebook reader. My mother and my aunts who shared their stories of growing up during the Great Depression could have never dreamed that one day the story they inspired would be downloaded through the air for people to read.

So, I’m glad to celebrate Read an EBook Day that was first started ten years ago in 2014.

How do you like to read? Ebooks? Print copies? On your phone? Listening to audio?

There’s no wrong way to read a book.