Thursday, July 23, 2015

Paper books vs. E-Readers

Lately, on several sites I visit there have been "debates" on what is better for reading:  Paper books or e-readers.  To be honest, I like both.  I still buy what I like to term, book books, sometimes paperbacks, sometime hardbacks.  I want to see books.  I love the look of books.  I love the feel of books.  I love the smell of books (don't judge).

I received a kindle in 2010 when I was getting ready to go on a trip to Finland.  Long plane ride.  My mom (whom I never thought would do the techie book thing) had fallen in love with her kindle and said she would get me an early Christmas gift (my trip was in October).  I got it and immediately found myself downloading tons of books, some free, some not so free (a lot of the classics are free). Fast forward 5 years later and I'm on my second kindle (I cried when my original died) and use my Kindle fire to read before bed (I'll explain later).

I moved into a townhouse recently.  I've been looking for the perfect bookshelf.  Until that time, I have books that are haphazardly spread around this house.  I visit a once a month book store where books are one dollar (I give myself $10 to spend here). I have piles of "To Be Read" books in my room, in my second room and even in my living room.  Not to mention the books I have read that are on the bookshelves I already have.

Then there are those times when I want to help out my independent bookstore.  I go there, pick up a couple of books that I know they'll have, look around, pick up a couple more and before you know it, I walk out of the store with 4 or 5 books and my bank account $30-$60 lighter.

There's Amazon where sometimes, I can only get the hardback book I covet (the Outlander Series comes to mind here).  And there's the "big box store" Barnes and Noble in my area.  I go there, sometimes I buy there but they have more than books and that's the shiny thing that catches my eye.  I'll walk out with something not a book, and then buy a book because I feel guilty.  Yeah, it sucks to be me.

But I can't read book books all the time.  My vision is fading and sometimes the print is just too small in those book books, even with my specially made reading glasses.  Especially at night. And that is why I love my kindle.  I can read books and change the font to suit my vision that night.

I read book books during the day and my kindle or kindle fire (in bed, with the brightness on low so it doesn't disturb the dogs trying to sleep) at night.

It's never the same book.  HOWEVER, if I do read a book on the kindle that I've borrowed from the library OR bought at a really low price on Amazon and I love it and want it forever and I want to see it and touch and feel it, I buy the book book . I got the first Outlander book for free on my kindle and then bought all the ones after that on my kindle AND NOW I'M BUYING THEM ALL IN HARDBACK THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  I've also always had the Harry Potter series and Twilight Series in Hardback and then went and bought them on the kindle so I could travel with all of them.  LOL.

I wish the debate would just go away. In the end, isn't is just great that there are so many ways to read now.  That there are so many more people able to read.  Access to books and authors and new worlds and people and ideas are available to anyone.  Why should it matter what format is used?



1 comment:

  1. I started using my Kindle App on my iPad a few years ago (it was less bright than a book with book light so it didn't bother G as much). This spring I was going to spend a week camping in FL, so a kindle that I could read on the beach (and in my tent w/o a separate light) was tempting, so I bought a paperwhite. I really love it.

    I had to laugh because I used to bring 2 sets of sunglasses to the beach, one a Rx pair that allowed me to see distance, and a regular pair so I could read (I'm near sighted). I didn't think about it until I was at the beach that the font size adjustment would allow me to adjust the kind and just keep my Rx sunglasses on. Wow, lol!

    I still read both as well.

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