"The girl with the xanthic hair" doesn't sound as good as "the girl with the golden hair" or even "the girl with the yellow hair." Xanthic, of course, means "yellow or yellowish," according to the first meaning in my Webster's New World Dictionary. Yes, I still have a print dictionary. I find it more useful and more complete than the online versions. Also, sometimes I like to browse for new words. A book is perfect for browsing.
I wonder sometimes why people don't enjoy the feel of a book. Yes, I know about your Kindle and all its dubious wonders, but it's not the same. Books have a certain heft, a certain smell ... maybe even a bit of magic in them. I do know books can survive for centuries. Your Kindle won't. Not because Kindles are bad, but because tech changes. File formats change. And electronics corrode.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe four centuries from now, someone will find your Kindle in a corner and fire that baby up and read the entire Twilight series and start retching uncontrollably.
But I doubt it.
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