The week between Christmas and New Year’s has always been one of my favorites: the big gift-dinner-family time is over, time slows down, and it really feels like a holiday. I got a Kindle from my mom this year, who does not get technology and has trouble even with her cable TV remote. She says she can’t figure out a computer and she doesn’t need a smartphone, but she’s happy with her microwave. She might be tech challenged, but Mom gets that ereaders–like hardcovers and paperbacks–are one more way to deliver books, and she knows I’ve always really loved to read. So she got me a Kindle.

I added a few books to read on the plane: two (Wish List and Vegas Moon) by John Locke, who’s made it big in the self-published ebook world. His books are fast and furious mystery-suspense type stories full of cheeky dialogue. And then I got Far from the Madding Crowd, written in 1874 by Thomas Hardy, not exactly who I’d call a light read.

However, Laura thinks Far… is ripe for a romantic comedy redo because the story is about a woman and her three romantic interests. As it turns out, by 1967 Hollywood decided that Hardy and Far… were indeed ready for a contemporary treatment, so they got Julie Christie to play in the film adaptation along with Terence Stamp, Alan Bates, and Peter Finch as the suitors. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but catch the cover for the DVD! Thomas Hardy: I hardly knew ye.