Dear Readers,

The other day, a visitor told me he loved our region. He said he took a beautiful boat ride, visited the charming Burnt Island Light, ate a steaming lobster and marveled over the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Then, after complaining about the uncertain cell phone service at his cottage, he asked if there was anything else he could do on his Boothbay vacation.

I thought about it for a moment, and told him that I would turn off the smartphone, put away the tablet, lock the laptop in the trunk of the car, drive into Boothbay Harbor and walk into Sherman's, the fine independent bookstore owned by Jeff Curtis.

There, I would browse the stacks for about 45 minutes or so, pick out a handful of books, and go back to the cottage. Then I would mix up a pitcher of lemonade, find a cool spot on the porch where the breeze keeps the bugs at bay, pull up a chair, put my feet up, open the cover and read.

I know, I know. I can hear you argue that you don't have to buy a book, you can get one downloaded on your tablet or laptop. It will cost just a buck or two and you won't have to find a place to park.

But it is not the same.

To me, a book just feels right sitting on your lap. There is something pleasing about holding it at just the right angle for your elderly eyes. You don't have to plug it in at night, and if the Internet hiccups, in say Rome or Dallas, your cyber story will not disappear into the ozone. In the morning, as you brew the coffee, you can just open it up and go back into the story without booting it up.

With a book, unlike the images streaming endlessly on your tablet or laptop, you are not forced to accept the producers’ version of the story. With a book, it is up to you to conjure up the characters.

Recently, my family and friends have devoured a series of charming mystery stories set in rural France. Written by Martin Walker, they feature a character named Bruno, the chief of police in a tiny town. They are fun reads.

We used our imaginations to create our own images of the characters, their town, their warm kitchens and dark caves. We smiled at the antics of his pet basset hound, but we really were conjuring up the image of our former basset named Polly.

When we are finished with the series, we won't just push a button to make the story disappear into the ozone. We will lend them to friends and finally donate them to the Library's Used Bookstore where someone else will pick them up.

Last weekend, Maine Authors Publishing & Cooperative held a summer book fair at the Boothbay Railway Museum where dozens of Maine writers sold their books and chatted with fans who lined up to let smiling clerks swipe their credit cards.

Some authors were stars, like Tess Gerritsen, who created the gripping mystery series featuring Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli and her pal, medical examiner Maura Isles. I know they made the characters into a TV series, but I think the books are more fun to read. Julia Spencer-Fleming, one of the reigning queens of mystery was there, too, plugging her latest, “Through the Evil Days.”

They and the other writers worked to provide you with the answer your original question. What can you do after hitting the region's hot spots?

Their books can help you find what you were looking for when you picked Boothbay as a vacation destination. And sitting on a porch and reading a book is one of the best ways to clear your head of the daily jumble of work and its insistent electronic computer clutter that leaps out and demands your immediate attention.

And, as a bonus, with a book, you don't have to fear hitting the wrong key or, perish the thought, being forced to spend an hour on the phone with a guy in Bangladesh who insists his real name is Kevin.