Give me printed literature or give me death.

There's nothing like a good book. Nothing. There is just something so exciting about what's hidden behind the cover, filling all the pages in black and white. This past week has been one of anticipation for me, as I not-so-patiently awaited the arrival of my 2 new Molly Katzen cookbooks. I've been wanting The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without since becoming a vegetarian (with the exclusion of the Christmas livermush) almost 3 years ago. And as I explored her website, I found another book entitled Get Cooking and decided I'd do just that.

So, Christmas day, in a room filled with new pots and pans, sweaters, jewelry and other various gifts, I hopped on Addall.com and, in all my glorious frugality, found both titles for as cheap as humanly possible ($1.49 and $6.49, if I can just toot my own little horn for a sec) and ordered those puppies.

For 10 days-ok, 5 or so business days- I waited in expectation for these glorious books to arrive. Each day they didn't I became more and more anxious. And finally, as of today, I know hold in my possession my beautiful, tangible, well-written and fabulously illustrated cookbooks.

Now, these aren't the only books I love. No no no. I love everything from quirky fiction such as Michael Chabon and Nick Hornby, to Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove, all the way to a good planner (which I purchaed for the New Year, thank you very much). You may not be able to find me in the club, but you can find me at Imaginon instilling this excitement in my kids or Barnes & Noble running away from them.

Even in an age of iPhones, iPads, Kindles and eBooks, there's nothing like holding a book in your hands, flipping through it, underlining thoughts and writing your own. I'm probably dooming my children to having "that mom" who refuses to move on, who still handwrites notes instead of typing and prefers old fashioned notebook paper to a Google document. With all this new technology, you have books and information at your fingertips instantly and it translates into every other area of our lives, and sometimes, really, what's the fun in it?

I understand convenience. I understand being progressive. I understand being rushed. But I know there are times when instant gratification is just no match for good, old-fashioned anticipation and the satisfaction you receive when you realize that the wait made what you'd been anticipating so much more meaningful.