2014 in Review, Part 3: What About Paper?

I have written already about my best e-reads of the year, and about how much they cost me and what devices I read them on. But…what about the paper? Yes, you heard that right! On an eBook blog, why would I be writing about reading paper?

Because to me, one of the most annoying Threads That Never Die in the eBook world is the myth that this is a zero-sum game, and either paper or eBook is going to ‘win’ and that will be that. In my home, as in many, there is a mix of eBook and paper. There are some books which, to me, are better suited to the paper form, and some genres where I continue as a consequence to purchase them that way.

So, what were my best paper buys of the year? Here they are, broken down by genre for your convenience.

1) Children’s Books. Half the fun, for me, is bringing the child with me and helping him to pick. We have been seeing a certain dear little child in our life on a somewhat more regular schedule this year, and I have made it a goal of mine to buy him one quality book—not a media tie-in, but an actual beautiful piece of literature—every time he comes. I look forward to seeing our children’s library grow over the years. Our additions this year included two from the Harry McLary series—he loved the one we got him, and my mother got him the second one—and a few classics from my own childhood. He was a little young for ‘Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel,’ but he enjoyed most of ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.’ I have a French copy of the latter book and plan to use it as a ‘novel study’ with my Grade 3 French class next term.

2) Cookbooks. I like having these in paper because the photos and illustrations come out much better, and I can’t follow a recipe unless I can see the whole thing on one page. My best cookbooks of the year were ‘100 Days of Real Food’ by Lisa Leake and the books from the Happy Herbivore series.

3) Art Books. I picked up a new hobby this year! The art gene runs in my family and I always thought it had passed me by until I picked up the book ‘Let’s Tangle’ by Kathleen Murray, on a whim, from a table display at Indigo. At least, an art technique I can do! I have since picked up several more books on this method, including ‘One Zentangle a Day’ by Beckah Krahula and ‘No Excuses Art Journaling’ by Gina Rossi Armfield, both of which are fabulous and well-worth what I spent.