So many R&BLers are owners of e-readers, those habit forming devices that allow us to carry a world of libraries and bookstores in our hands and enable us to have instant access to them and, with some e-readers, to the Internet. Just recently, as an owner of one of those tools of the Devil, two events in my life created a serendipitous collusion. First I discovered a web site that allows me to lend and borrow e-books absolutely free. All I have to do is register to become a user. And second, I borrowed my first book from a stranger, using that web site, which is perfectly apropos to a theme I’ve harped on over the past few months – that electronic reading devices are changing our society and way of acquiring information in as profound a manner as Gutenberg’s printing press did 570 odd years ago.
The web site is Lendle. The book is The Last Bookstore in America by Amy Stewart. The beauty of Lendle is that e-books can be shared by owners of practically any e-reader, not just Kindles. The beauty of the novel is that it’s a balance between the humor and the tragedy of the situation this technology has got us into.
Please turn the page.
