The summer that I read The Help changed my reading habits forever. Available only in hardcover, I lugged around the 300+ page novel daily so I could read during my commute, lunch break and those random moments which pop up throughout the day (this is how I do most of my reading). My best-seller-list cargo also severely limited my purse options and no doubt contributed significantly to my chronic back pain. After weeks of reading and self-shoulder massaging I said to myself, “I can’t handle it anymore, I must join my fellow commuters on the eReader bandwagon!!” Up to that point I had resisted eReaders hard core. I love the FEEL of a book. I like to dog-ear pages of importance and underline memorable quotations. Those eReaders looked so sterile and unromantic. Nevertheless on to my Channuka list it went (thank you mom and dad!) and now I’m the proud owner of a Nook.
Over a year later I still can’t decide how I feel about the device. There are lots of pros to reading on an eReader, but something about it just doesn’t feel right. My Loves: portable; easy to get new books; great for reading in bright sun; built in dictionary. My Hates: can’t flip back to pages easily; can’t write notes; needs to be charged (my books never ran out of battery!); lending/borrowing is limited to certain books and only with fellow Nook-ers. And my chief complaint: it’s NOT COZY or BOOK-Y! I liken the feeling to telling someone that loves movies to never go to the theater because everything is streaming on their iPad. It’s the experience that we cherish, not just the story. How do you feel about eReading? Do you have any suggestions for making the experience more book-like? (<---see how I’m baiting you to leave a comment here? Do it, you know you have something to say... :)
I lurve my Kindle. And I love it for the same reasons that you love yours. I have not yet experienced the hole left by not turning the pages of a paper book. There will probably be some books that I will always want for real - cookbooks, childrens books, etc. But I have fallen for e-reading hook line and sinker.
ReplyDeleteBUT if every book I buy over the next however many years is digital, how will I ever build a book collection large enough to someday fill my library of Beauty and the Beast proportions? How will I spend hours picking out books from my two-story bookcases while singing and dancing from ladder to ladder?
And I wish I had a really great idea for making the experience more book-y, maybe a cup of hot cocoa (that makes everything better). Or maybe the idea of an ereader inherently undermines the warm, cozy feeling of reading a book? It has created on-the-go reading and books - with their bulk and texture, are meant for savoring, for curling up and escaping.
I knew there would be passion! The one handed page-flip... a big PRO I forgot to consider:)
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