As part of my ongoing thought-experiment concerning digital books versus print books, I read A Christmas Carol on my Dad's Kindle, and--oh, reader, I did not prefer that! As I mentioned in my recent, rather secretive, epic blog post--which I subsequently deleted because it wasn't fit to print (think about that paradoxical pun for a hot second)--research has been done that the act of reading on digital media supports a less-deep/more shallow kind of reading, and I have to agree. While reading, I felt like I was being rushed. I don't like knowing what percent of a book I've read! Why can't I just have page numbers and figure it out myself? In other news, I liked A Christmas Carol a lot. I read it in the fifth grade many moons ago, but I pretty much remembered the basic story line from twenty-one years of Christmastime culture. The book was really good: Victorian, Dickensian (obv), meaty enough to have taste but light enough to finish in a day. I particularly liked the little squibs Dickens included about government. Also, the book is heavy on the spirit of Christmas, something in which I think both Christians and Pagans can find celebration.
I would include an image of the book, but because I read it on a Kindle, there is no accurate representation of which version I read (though I'm sure it was unabridged, unillustrated, and out of copyright--it was free, you see). Here's a song, though--in the spirit of this lovely holiday:
It's not important what you celebrate but rather how. I urge you to consider the various reasons for the season, including but not limited to: the winter solstice, Christ's birth, and Saturnalia. Whatever you celebrate, do it merrily!
