The Front Office

Do you know the titles of the books you read? Because I don’t. And I think that’s a problem.

I watched a video earlier that threw me for a loop. It was about someone claiming to be well read, but when questioned about the actual books, they couldn’t name them. They could name some authors. They could discuss the context of the books. But they couldn’t name the actual titles. Which had people questioning whether they read any books at all.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you that I also cannot tell you the names of the books I’ve read. Almost none in the past several years. And it’s 100% because I read my books on my Kindle.

I don’t have a physical book on my nightstand that I see and open every day.

What I do have is a digital device. The moment I open the cover, it teleports me straight to page 142. I don’t see the cover. I don’t see the author. I see the page I am meant to read.

In fact, the only time I do see the cover is when I initially select it from my library.

Jeff Bezos, if you’re listening, make me see the cover every time I wake my Kindle up. Put that title in my face. Let me see the author’s name.

I don’t want to be accused of being a fake book reader. That’s nearly as bad as being the guy who runs the faucet for a second in the public bathroom to try to trick people into thinking they washed their hands.