Even with the world constantly evolving and modernizing in front of my eyes, a library book will always win the fight against an Abbe-book or store bought book in my mind. 

My relationship with books began at a very young age; my parents constantly read to me and I quickly grew fond of all kinds of stories. My reading endeavors existed beyond the four walls of my room though, most importantly during the Centerville Public Library’s story hour. While I don’t remember the first time that I set my eyes upon the Centerville library, I can only imagine that it was love at first sight. Once I aged out of story hour and picked up reading abilities of my own, my parents were constantly taking my siblings and I to the library to pick out any book we desired. This was when my love for library books took flame. 

I always enjoyed the trips to Barnes & Noble too, but not nearly as much. There’s something so satisfying about being able to borrow a book from a library and take it home knowing that so many other eyes have interacted with it and that you have a two week time limit to read it. I think this just makes the experience more exciting. 

E-books started gaining popularity after 2010, and as someone accepting of change, I decided to try it out. I believe the first and last ebook that I read was “The Maze Runner”. This great book was ruined by the head and eye aches that my NOOK gave me if I stared at it for too long. This ultimately ruined my interest in ever reading digitally again. 

My favorite part of my night time routine is the time that I set aside to read my book. To me, this is the perfect time to unwind from my day and get myself in the headspace to have a better sleep. However, if I chose to end every day with reading an e-book, my sleep would suffer. The blue light that any tablet, phone or computer projects suppresses melatonin secretion which in turn makes it much more difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. There are always blue light glasses, but I am not willing to take a risk that could still damage my sleep levels.

One of the largest components in my love for reading is that it allows me time to disconnect and stray away from the constant surrounds of screens and media. So, reading an e-book would completely ruin the disconnect from screen time that I so try to achieve. Not to mention that my favorite reading spot is the beach, and my butter fingers, an expensive tablet and large amounts of sand and water are not the best combination — I have the scratches on my phone and sand in it’s charging port to prove it.

There is hardly anything in this country that is both free and full of value, so being able to knock out both of these birds with one trip to the library is a true blessing.

Reading from an ebook does not allow you the satisfaction of tearing through pages during a suspenseful read, also deeming the term ‘page turner’ meaningless, and I never wish to see the day where that phrase no longer makes sense.

For these reasons among many more, I believe that any hardcover book, particularly those coming from a library, should always take precedence over an e-book. Library books are an art form that I will never allow to die!

If you are interested in jumpstarting your own pleasure reading ventures, you can begin the experience right here at the Barnstable High School library. To check out a book, all you have to do is fill out this google form and wait for a response from the library! In addition, all clams libraries (Cape Cod public libraries) are open and have their own guidelines so as to stay open during this pandemic. My library of choice is the Centerville library, located at 585 Main Street, Centerville.

Some of my most recent reads were “Concrete Rose”, prequel to “The Hate You Give”, by Angie Thomas, “Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid, “The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett” by Annie Lyons and “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens and I highly recommend all of these books! I’m always looking for a book to grab from the library, so leave some suggestions for what I can read and review next!