Rusted aluminum barn, Route 40.

I went to Saratoga to get my friend and bookkeeper Anne Dambrowski her Christmas present. Anne has helped me in so many ways, one of them being to take over my disintegrating finances after my divorce and crack-up. I was in such a panic then about money that I was paying all of my bills twice, when the bill came and when the  receipt came (before I moved a lot of it online.) I came home from a book tour one day – Maria picked me up at the airport, she was driving me around on book tours for  Random House at that time, and we came in the house and Anne was sitting grimly at the computer – noone can look grimmer than Anne when she wants to look grim and she was totaling up all of these double payments and she turned to me and said, “it’s time to panic.” And I did, needing more more encouragement. For years, I wouldn’t even come  home if I knew Anne was in the house, I’d drive around taking photos until she left.

Anne is a passionate gardener as well as a bookkeeper and she noticed I was drowning in confusion and offered to help. She hs.

We have stayed with one another, and both of us have grown up in some ways together. I love Anne, and she is so important to me and Maria (she helps Maria with her messes also), she helps make my life possible, if not orderly. Anne can be grim, but mostly, loving and she dotes on the dogs and even smiles at me once in awhile. Anne is organic, and not into tech. I gave her a Kindle two years ago and she seemed to like it.

I wanted to get her a new tablet to help her in her love of books and music, and in her bookkeeping, so I was following the nationwide obsession with Kindle Fire vs. new Nook Tablet. I took this seriously, as I wanted Anne to be happy and I drove Maria bonkers comparing the two and reading the many reviews of each and fussing over my choice. I am not casual about things.

I decided on the Nook Tablet. It is a bit faster and sharper, I thought, although it is $50 more expensive. But it offered a number of things that have been overlooked in the tech reviews. It is not proprietary. You can use it in libraries and also in independent bookstores. Amazon has gotten a little too greedy for me when it comes to bookstores. There is no technological reason that they couldn’t give independent stores a cut of e-books – Barnes & Noble does. Amazon keeps users exclusively  in their retail eo-system and Barnes & Noble doesn’t, at least when it comes to books. I just liked the way it felt and navigated, too. She can also get her e-mail at her various jobs (you can do that on the Kindle Fire too. Both are nice.)

So the bottom line is that  there are many millions more free and commercial books available on the Nook and you can go to any Barnes & Noble store and get assistance if you need it. . I thought Anne would like it. I explained all of this to her, and she actually gave me a hug, which for her is tantamount to running naked through the streets singing. She will be in the Christmas Parade Friday in Cambridge, and I will see her there while I am signing books at Battenkill. I am still afraid of Anne, but mostly love her.