i bought the kindle, then the nook. neither replace books imo, but they
are convenient and allow a relatively inexpensive purchase of good (and
bad) literature. Rachel doesn't drive anymore and she has difficulty
getting around, so our trips to bookstores together have stopped...she
never got into buying online, but she can download a book from the
comfort of home using the kindle or nook and seems to like it. i still
prefer a book...leave one or two in the toilet, a couple by the bed,
etc. hard to do that with the computer or kindle.

the earth is enough is middleton's best imo. there is a small volume of
collected short pieces you would like...."rivers of memory"...and if you
see wayne knight again, he has the only copy of "the starlight creek
angling society" i've ever seen...also worth a read.

jeff

On 9/17/2011 11:47 AM, john b wrote:
Jeff, you got it as a gift a year ago last June, and I immediately
ordered it from Amazon. Middleton will never win the Pulitzer but I so
enjoyed 'Earth is Enough' which you recommended, so I bought "In that
Sweet Country."

I saved it....I read the first story..or article if you will - it being
a collection of his writings for magazines - on the plane to the
Philippines. I read the last one yesterday.

I have read it on the plane...by the sea...on the porch...at the
park...on mountain tops before sunset...savoring each one like fine aged
wine. Laughs...I took a year and two weeks to read that book.

Middleton had one article on cane rods...the feeding and care of bamboo
if you will, and THAT is how I treated that book. When the day was
right, when the mood was right....when the weather was right...I took
that trusted book off the shelf and went to where my heart lead me to
read just one more article. My boarding pass out of LAX was is my bookmark.

Now I read a lot of books...and now I read them on my computer.....I
really want an e-book reader. I read John Grisham and Robert B. Parker
but I just can't imagine having the feel of the book....marking the
pages....placing it on the shelf for future use with some flat
electronic device.

The internet and it's electronic devices....Frank Zappa and his
'devices' have changed the world....

John