According to a story in the paper, the most popular fiction book borrowed from Albany Public Library in 2015 was The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

That’s interesting, but let’s talk about number 12 on the list, Grey, by E.L. James.

Grey is part of the popular  Fifty Shades of Grey series. I haven’t personally read any of these Grey books, but they’re well known for their graphic depictions of kinky sex.

There’s no way to put this this delicately, but here goes: would you want to take book out of the library knowing that the people before you have been… well, masturbating while reading it?

I wouldn’t want to even touch that book, much less bring it home and read it.

This is one of those things that you’re better off not thinking about, but let’s anyway. Many books contain steamy scenes that will arouse the reader, and if you’re a frequent borrower at your library, you’ve most likely held a book in your hands that’s seen some action. This Grey book is a whole different animal, written to be erotic, it’s certain to inspire a lot of solo activity.

But who knows what get’s people hot and bothered?  It could be that someone’s rubbed one out while reading that copy of Doris Kern Goodwin’s Team of Rivals you got from the library. They say William H. Seward had that effect on people.

Books are supposed to be on paper — and a printed book will never have its battery die on you. That was my rallying cry against ebooks — until I actually started reading them. Now I’m hooked.

After several months with the iPad Mini, I’m reading more than before. It’s not just the convenience of downloading the books, but the device itself improves the reading experience. For example, now when I fall asleep while reading, I don’t lose my place. How great is that?

There is one down side: if you’re like me, you like to pass along a book you enjoy to another reader — but there’s no doing that with ebooks. Now I find myself buying books twice, once digitally and once on paper.

That said, allow me to recommend a few books you might like to buy twice.

I’ve read two great books, one after the other,  by Mitchell Zuckoff: Lost in Shangri-La and Frozen in Time. Both are true stories from World War II about plane crashes, survival, and daring rescues. Each book is filled with larger than life characters — and Zuckoff’s storytelling is terrific.

The third book is That’s That, a coming of age memoir by Colin Broderick about growing up in Northern Ireland. This is not the bleak stuff of Angela’s Ashes; Broderick’s book has its dark moments but it’s also very funny — and captures teenage angst better than anything I’ve ever read. It’s also really opened my eyes to The Troubles, something many Americans of Irish descent love to talk about, but really don’t understand.

So read on, and don’t be afraid to go paperless. Just be aware that you may find yourself buying more books, some of them twice.