Library & Literary Miscellany

Before I Die by Jenny Downham (2007)

“How long can I stave it off? I don’t know. All I know is that I have two choices–stayed wrapped in blankets and get on with dying, or get the list back together and get on with living.”

Tessa Scott, 16-year-old British teenager with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, ponders choices such as this throughout her story–she shares her desires, fears, doubts, regrets, lust, love, relationships, courage, and life right up to the end of her life. The plot develops around Tessa’s list of 10 things to do before she dies (some legal, some not, but all attempts to feel fully alive).

Tessa has a family surrounding her, but she feels utterly alone as only she will be traveling all of the way to (and through) death’s door. Her reliable father is stuck in denial, her unreliable mother is sometimes present and sometimes not and usually selfish, and her younger brother Cal is dealing with her impending demise in his own way (such as bestowing gifts upon her like the book entitled “A Hundred Weird Ways to Meet Your Maker”).

And then there’s the boy-next-door, Adam. Adam is dealing with his own grief—”I’m only just coping” he tells Tessa—from losing his father and being sole caretaker of his mother. Eventually, Adam overcomes his initial reluctance about getting involved with a dying girl, and he sticks with Tessa to the end. Along the way, they both learn a great deal about coping and love–about how love helps one cope and brings life to its most vivid form.

Warning: Tessa’s recurring interest in having sex does play a rather large role in the novel and there is some explicit narration of thoughts and actions in this regard. Further Warning: You will likely wish that the book does not end as it does (shedding tears is a real possibility). But if you read those warnings and still want to give Before I Die a chance, then you may just turn the last page and close the book with a greater appreciation of each and every breath and each and every moment you have on this earth.

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Amazon’s at it again. Today Amazon released the Kindle (think of it as an e-reader with benefits). Read interesting opinions/responses to the release of the Kindle at:

• Newsweek: The Future of Reading by Steven Levy
• EndaGadget: Amazon Kindle: meet Amazon’s e-book reader
• The O’Reilly Radar: Steven Levy on Amazon’s Kindle
• Read/Write Web: Amazon sets e-book world alight with Kindle-Finally, time for read/write books
• ZDNet: Hands on with the Kindle this Ugly Duckling has Potential

Read/Write Web in particular, provides complete and concise coverage of Kindle’s release including an overview of Kindle along with discussion of issues (such as pricing and DRM) and the idea of books as a service.

A couple of highlights from Amazon’s Kindle Product overview:

• Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
• Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
• Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
• Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
• More than 88,000 books available, including 100 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.

In sum, the Kindle looks like a neat option for book aficionados. So if you haven’t filled out that Christmas list yet, and if you’ve been very, very good and someone loves you very, very much, you might consider adding the Kindle to your list.

I do not believe that the appearance of the Kindle will spell the death of hardcover and softcover books; there’s just something about having a real book in your hands and flipping the pages that’s here to stay. For times when you can’t or don’t want to get your hands on the paper version, the Kindle offers a neat alternative. And I’m all for having as many options as possible to get people reading. We all have our reading preferences (remember Ranganathan’s laws of library science?). Also, since the Kindle operates on wireless connectivity analogous to that which is ubiquitously provided by cell-phone carriers, the Kindle moves e-book attainment beyond wireless hotspots. Kindle owner’s really will have books at their fingertips.

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