Before the Inti Raymi-San Pedro parade – Cayambe Ecuador
“Haven’t seen people reading newspapers like they used to,” Amy stated in a recent post. – The World is a Book
The above image was taken the week before she published two photos of people reading in public areas. The comment thread supports that reading ‘hard copy’ is a vanishing art.
In contrast, here’s an image from last night’s San Pedro-San Pablo event on the Pacific Coast.
Jama Ecuador – Waiting for Showtime!
When the showtime hour arrived, the phones were forgotten, and the celebration began!
Many of us still treasure the old fashioned options for reading. This next quote made me laugh, and if you fit into that ‘reading addict’ category, it might make you laugh too.
“Deprived of their newspapers or a novel, reading-addicts will fall back onto cookery books, on the literature which is wrapped around bottles of patent medicine, on those instructions for keeping the contents crisp which are printed on the outside of boxes of breakfast cereals. On anything.”
― Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree
Inka Kola – UH-oh; no sugar? That suggests a closer look…
Aspartame! – “No thank you.” – Thank goodness I read labels!
After a shopping trip, I enjoy removing newspaper-wrapped glassware and checking what’s printed on the paper; sometimes it’s advertising material, but sometimes there’s news-worthy information!
When one lives where novels and magazines in English are not often seen, it’s normal to eye a book – any book -that a fellow traveler has in hand! Hostals and restaurants with book swap areas are favored haunts!
It’s heartwarming to know others who share that same passion for the written word, especially in its rightful format that can be cradled in one’s hand.
Have you read any good books lately? 🙂
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Aspartame has the same effect on me too Lisa..
As for any good books. I am re reading lots of my spiritual books right now.. Seems I need to read the pages they drop open upon lol..
But swapped my bed time reading for knitting at the moment..
And yes you are right READING Books is a dying art.. As is writing long hand I feel.. As many now just type..
I love to write in my journal long hand my poems and just jot down my thoughts..
And I would love nothing better to receive a long letter.. In days gone by from friends.. Now it is a quick text..
Loved the Band images..
Hope you enjoyed..
Love and Hugs dear Lisa and Happy Weekend to you xxx ,3
So what’s your mailing address? If you dare place it in an open forum – perhaps there are more who would like to send an old fashioned hand-written letter to you!
Love this, Lisa. On a train some weeks ago I came across a young man writing – using ordinary pencil and paper. Oh, the joy! I just had to approach him and give him my compliments. He said he always wrote like that…because he enjoyed it.
Myself, I love it too…but I am sorry to say that now it has been a long time since I wrote a letter. I read books though – and will never let go of it. The feeling of holding a book in my hand is like holding a precious secret to be unfolded. Newspapers in the morning is also necessary. Just the sound of it…MUST have.
What a lovely encounter on the train! Yes, writing ‘long hand’ often allows a more-creative thought process… I hope that it’s never a lost art.
You are right – holding a book is like holding a precious secret to be unfolded. Lovely description! Thank you for your feedback!
Thank You for posting!
Thanks for all the smiles. 🙂 We are non-stop readers and love our books, our whole home is like a library, but we have no room for e-readers. 🙂
I loved reading thought povoking “The Soul of America” by Karl Ove Knausgaard and “My Brilliant Friend” quartett (The Neapolitan Novel, 4 vol.) by Elena Ferrante.
Haeva great weekend,
warm greetinsg from sunny Norway,
Dina & co
“E=Readers Not Allowed!!” – Great concept. I stick to the ‘hard copy’ attitude as well, though have done my share of online reading… If given an option, it’s the printed form – always….
Thank you for those book suggestions! 🙂
You should read Big Jim Eastland. Interesting and well done, I think.
I did not know of that book; thanks for suggesting it – its surely a very interesting story and one that is not too pretty?
When I was a kid, if there wasn’t anything else to read at the table, I’d read the cereal boxes, and anything else I could get my hands on. I still love to read the “old fashioned” way (there are books stacked up all over our house, but we’re slowly giving them away as we prepare to move to Ecuador). But maybe I should wrap the “fragile” things we’re shipping in book pages so I can reassemble them once we get down there. Hmmm, food for thought!
That idea made me laugh! Reuse the books! Or after you’ve unwrapped your belongings, send the trash paper to me!!!!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
as always …enlightening. some day we are coming to visit and btw you are always welcome in our home here in Colorado. ❤
Thanks, Gwen; there are many lovely areas in the country, but I suspect that you’ll love the Andean section most… Thanks so much for putting the welcome mat out… If only I could make that magic carpet truly fly!
Lisa, I jus read there was a 6.3 earthquake centered in Jama today! Please let us know you are OK.
Hey! It spooked people but I think all is ok… I pondered ‘to post or not to post’ and decided if someone wrote, I’d best do an update.. otherwise maybe it’s best not to worry people! Thanks for caring, dear friend! Will write /post a quick update!
Hope you are all ok there, Lisa! Re reading – it’s as important to me – almost – as breathing…and I go with Aldous H: I’d rather read almost anything than read nothing.
Si, it’s a joy when one embraces the written word! All’s ok here, and the music/fiestas continue through the weekend….
Mary converted to Kindel long before I did, but now I am content reading from my tablet. Still there is something to be said for holding the dog-eared pages of an old paperback and drifting off to sleep in some distant place. Not to worry if you drop it or roll over onto it in sleep. Many a night I slip in and remove Mary’s tablet to the side table so there would be no damage.
Good to hear from you. Take care there in Jama. JandM
So true; a book is more forgiving than the electronic option. Many times I wonder what would happen if the world totally converted to the electronic version – and then a triple solar flair wiped out our power grids. and we could not access any information… Hmm, maybe those ancient cultures that left no written history behind had some sort of electronic record?
It’s ten and another party seems to be full throttle.. three nights in a row – surely things will get quiet tomorrow?
This is a true story, from my very own life. When I was in about fifth grade, or maybe sixth, the law was laid down by my mother: no more reading at the breakfast table. No books, no magazines, no newspaper. It wasn’t polite, and mealtime was meant to be mealtime, even if the whole family hadn’t gathered.
One day, I asked if we couldn’t change our breakfast cereal. I don’t remember what we’d usually served up, but I do remember we moved to Raisin Bran. My mother was a bit surprised, but willing. What she didn’t realize, of course, is that I’d been reading the cereal box. Once I had it memorized, I needed some new material — and, hence, a new brand.
So, here I am: proof that Aldous Huxley was right about reading addicts!
Ha! That is so funny, and yes, I understand totally! Raisin Bran was a great choice!
Thank you so much for sharing that ‘Love for Reading’ story!
I love the digital age, and I love the printed page. I don’t enjoy reading newspapers or books on a screen of any kind.
I’m always reading something – right now it’s one you’d like – “Equator” by Thurston Clarke. Maybe you’ve read it – it’s been out quite a while. It’s a fascinating take on cultures near the equator, around the globe. Clarke travels around the world, at the equator, as nearly as he can. South America comes last so I haven’t read about your country yet!
Also reading “Living Color” by Natalie Goldberg, a writer who paints; this book is all about her journey as a visual artist. In the queue are “Dream of a Thousand Lives” by Karen Connelly, about Thai culture, “Gourmet Rhapsody” by Muriel Barbery, a novel about a food critic and the meaning of life, and “Space and Place” a book about how people feel about space and place by a geographer (also from decades ago but I’m finally getting around to it, maybe).
Not to mention all the wildflower ID guides that pile up around here! 😉
“Dear Santa Claus. . . Please deliver her used-book stash when she finishes reading the above!’
Wow, what a great selection of books! I’m definitely overdue a few hours’ worth of book-store time!
Enjoy your travels, and thanks for this feedback!
🙂 Maybe we can arrange something – but let me know before I send – or sell – them all back to the used bookstore! I wish you had one tenth the used book resources that are here in the Pacific northwest. The region is just crazy for them.
You are so right – the books that people discard in the USA would be greatly appreciated in areas where the English books are hard to find. It would be difficult to send them to Ecuador, where there are not many post offices, etc, and other options would probably cost more than the value of the books. If more-promising options surface, I’ll let you know.. Thanks!
Your “Waiting for Showtime!” pictures has become an increasingly common sight. Like so many other things, smart phones bring good and bad. One good thing is the navigation we’ve had during our recent travels. One bad thing is that some (many) people have become addicted.
I’m reading one of my favourite authors at the moment – Hjorth & Rosenfeldt, a book called The Silent Girl (I love Nordic crime). I’m afraid I’m no longer a paper reader, but it’s because I live in the sticks in France and don’t have access to English books. If I buy books from Amazon UK the postage isn’t cheap. It’s just so easy to buy e-Books for my Kindle and have them here in a few seconds – and have the opportunity to read a sample first!
I fit Huxely’s profile of a reader. If there isn’t a magazine or something to read beside the toilet, I will resort to the toiletry labels. That said, I’ve never been a fan of newspapers. They are awkward and dirty. Books are heavy and pretty much require two hands, some of the heavier ones require two hands and a desk. I used to love going to the bookstore with my mother as a kid. It was the one shopping venue where she would indulge my desires…sort of…I always had to pare my choices to 5 books or 10 books or whatever her budget could afford. I would race home and spread the new books on my bed, fondling the covers, opening the pages and stuffing my nose into the crease for that intoxicating whiff of new book.
Now, I rarely touch a paper newspaper. I read the news online, which has its own set of complications, but it is at least clean and I can take my news with me anywhere…even into the doctor’s office after I’ve been stripped of my clothes and left to hang out with a paper sheet draped over my nether parts and my cellphone clutched in my hands.
In addition to being engaged in a physical book, I also have at least one Kindle book going, and several in waiting, plus while driving or at night I listen to Audible books. I used to be methodical about finishing one book before beginning another. With the advent of electronic options, I’ve tossed that rule out the window. Add my Worpress Reader to all that and I struggle to keep up.
Currently cued: physical book – Blood & Thunder by Hampton Sides; Kindle – Civilian Women’s Quarters by Ruth Simmerly; Audible – Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. One of my favorite recent reads was The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.