New In Print

Went to a real library on Friday, and I checked out a few books.  Mostly things I couldn't get as ebooks, or things I was so unsure of that I didn't want to spend money on them.  It made me really uneasy--who would want to read print when I have Bessie?

Luckily, the first book I got--the one they don't have as an ebook yet--is My Most Excellent Year.  How have I missed this book before now?  It's been recommended to me and raved about by pretty much every YA reader I know, and I've passed it by.  Maybe because of the subtitle: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park. So many people love the Red Sox references, which don't mean nearly as much to me as they should to a good, honest Bostonian.

But I just started this book, and it is already tinglingly delightful.  it's about T.C. (baseball fan, B+ student), his best friend Augie (Chinese-American, into theater), and his crush Alé (ambassador's daughter, activist).  Alé doesn't care for T.C.'s effortless cool; Augie's suddenly, blissfully in charge of the school's talent show, and T.C.'s guidance counselor thinks he could make straight As.

What do I love?  The characters are happy, and funny.  And they love each other, fiercely.  And their parents are cool.  T.C. lost his mom when he was 6, and he and his dad are close, and close to Augie and his parents.  The dads email, and we get to see them loving their kids, worrying about them, and thinking about their own lives.  The grown ups aren't against the kids, and they aren't absent--they're there, being square and loving and parental, supporting their kids.  I think I love this just as much as I love how fun and funny and passionate the kids are.

The best part is that it's the perfect segue back into print media.  This book would just barely work on a Kindle--it's a combination of emails, letters, text messages, IM conversations, journaling homework assignments.  The fonts, spacings, and layout of the pages matter and make it much easier to read--even the pagination helps you read the book more smoothly.  You couldn't do that in an ebook.

I'm GLAD this isn't on the Kindle.  Two days ago, I might not have believed I would say that.  Thank heaven--I'm pretty sure that means I'm not a pod person.  Yet.