I own a Nook. *gasp*
Would I have bought one for myself? Never.
Do I love it? Absolutely.
Will it ever replace tree-books for me? Never.
I love the smell of tree-books and the feel of them. I love being surrounded by them in my office. I love them. They're irreplaceable. My hard covers are organized by favorite authors and genres. My 3 year old comes in and calls them sparkly and it makes me smile. (I even have her chanting my mantra, "books are friends," when she sees someone mistreating a book.) But, I am actually enjoying my e-reader far more than I thought I would. Not only for convenience sake (I currently carry ninety-nine books -and counting- around with me at all times and it still boggles my mind, plus the ability to have a new book at my fingertips in an instant is dangerously too convenient), but for other reasons as well.
I'm a hardcover girl and that's more than my wallet can "bare" sometimes. If a book is a keeper, something I'm going to read again and again and one day want my daughter to read, I want it in hard cover. But there are lots of books out there that I enjoy reading that are just fun reads. Things I'm not going to pick up again, things I don't need to keep forever. If I don't need to own a book in hard cover, I used to buy it in paperback, but I must admit, I hate paperbacks. I hate how they look all bedraggled and worn even with the most careful use. So e-books are the perfect solution for me.
My e-reader has also opened another avenue for me. I checked out my first library book in 15 years this year - an e-book! I don't like library books. I hate how tattered they become, even the hardcovers and the cellophane wrappers on the beautiful dust jackets, a necessary evil, I know, but still. I also have a mini-phobia about germs and library books... all the places they've been placed and the people who have sneezed on them and... you get the idea.
So, though I love my tree-books, I love my e-books too. It means more books for me, and how can that be a bad thing?!?
*I cannot take credit for the term "tree-books". One of Julie's friends found it as new entry in the Urban Dictionary and I fell in love with it.,
My husband surprised me with an iPad as an anniversary/birthday present -- and, book lover that I am, I admit to being surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. I agree with you -- there's something about tree-books (the physicality, etc.) that will forever have a hold on me, and yet this new medium has something to offer as well. As time goes on, it will be interesting to see how I make distinctions between what I choose to put into my growing e-book library and what I want to place on my bookshelf. I'm curious, too, about whether we process what we read a little differently when we're looking at a page in a book or a page on a screen -- but that's another conversation.
ReplyDeleteI.Just.Can't.Do.It.
ReplyDelete:) I've debated but I just can't.
That's what I said, until I had one...
ReplyDeleteI just don't need one. I don't commute, I don't have to wait in places that I can't take a book, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be long time until I get one. :)
Great term - tree books. Though I find even with lots of books on my e-reader, I can actually only read one story at a time. But I do use my e-reader for lots of non-fiction titles and research. I'm with you - tree books and e-books. Thanks Deborah for pointing me to this post.
ReplyDeleteOver the past year, I finally earned enough Best Buy bucks to buy myself a Kindle. Without essentially getting it for "free" it may have been another couple of years before I bought an ereader.
ReplyDeleteBut now that I have it, I love it. I'm using it mostly for the free public domain books or low priced books right now. It may take me a while before I can pay more than five bucks for an e-book.
I don't have a problem with library books. That's how I get most of my books. If I really enjoy it, then I go out and buy a hardcover copy. (I'm on a budget, so I only buy books I know I'll reread. If it's one I like but don't want to spend a lot of money on, I'll buy a softcover.)