Books & Kindle: A Tale of Two Loves

ebook ereader book kindle

ebook ereader book kindleDid I lure you in with my intriguing title? Sorry to disappoint, but this is not the salacious tale of two men fighting for my affection! In fact, it’s far more serious and conflicting then that.

I love reading; it is my favourite past time. When I read, the whole world fades away and it’s just me and this wonderful story unfolding. I’m known to completely switch off’ and ignore everyone around me, particularly when reading magazines. According to my mother, I learned to read at a very young age, and I haven’t stopped since! I can’t remember much of my childhood without a Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton book by my side.

In fact, Mum used to dole out punishment when we misbehaved (FYI I only misbehaved when it was instigated by my brother, yes Mum it’s the truth, if you’re reading) as follows:

  1. Brother – “Go to your room and read a book“;
  2. Jane: “Put that bloody book down and go and play outside on your own, no you cannot take the book with you!”

Cue images of an 8 year old me wandering aimlessly around the backyard, wondering what exactly she expected me to *do* in the backyard without my books! It was really a cruel and unusual punishment!

On average, I read 1-2 books a week, usually general fiction/commercial women’s fiction. I like biographies about people I’m familiar with, but I’m an oddly obsessive reader and I really don’t like classics or literary masterpieces. I find them a little boring and feel like I’m expected to like them.

Last Christmas, I traveled home with about 15 library books. Mr W and I were a comic’s dream at the airport swapping my books into our various suitcases so that I could meet the weight limit! I take that many with me so I’m never without a book! I love them. I wander into bookshops and imagine they are my home. I want to have my own library and reading room one day, with book print on the curtains! Sometimes, I tell Mr W I’m going to the library just to pick up some books I’ve got on hold and he calls me an hour later saying “where are you?”. I’ve been distracted and am sitting in the reading corner in the kid’s section. Obviously, if anyone looks at me funny, I just pretend that I’m a seriously grown up 10 year old.

I was vehemently against e-readers. I thought they would be nothing like reading a real book, like reading your computer screen, they weren’t the same as the look and feel of a lovely novel and of course, they wouldn’t smell like books! Who would want to read a great novel on a computer screen? Not me! Not to mention the contribution they could have to putting bricks and mortar bookshops out of business and driving down author revenue (I’m pretty sure authors don’t get paid very much anyway).

However, I’m travelling in April, so I decided to suck it up, give in to popular opinion and ask my Mum to give me a Kindle for my birthday, so that I could read it for travel only. I read quite a bit about e-readers, and it seemed that the overwhelming preference is for the Kindle. Something to do with how the image of each page imprints onto the screen, and it has no backlight – hence being less harmful to your eyes.

Well, Mum, I think I’m going to solely lay blame with you for my local library suddenly becoming a ghost town. Cue the crickets.

I turned on the Kindle, with cynicism, and thought it looked ok. Checked it out, no books on it yet, figured I could put up with reading on it from Brisbane to Los Angeles and all around the USA.

Then I got on my computer and thought I should check out Amazon (Kindle’s developer) Kindle Store. Then I completely lost control, like a person who has suddenly won the lotto! THE BOOKS WERE SO CHEAP AND THERE WERE HEAPS THAT WERE FREE!! All the classics were free (who cares if I don’t really like them, they were free!) and this Hunger Games series that everyone seems to be bleating about was $4.00 for a book! FOUR FREAKING DOLLARS! “Kim and Kris – What Went Wrong” for $0.99! 30 minutes and $50.00 later, I had about 15 books. It is as easy as setting up an account, and selecting “one click” as the option, and you literally click on the book, then hit “buy now” and it is sent straight to the Kindle!

I thought “oh this e-reading business is going to be crap, how can I enjoy reading all these books on a computer thingy, but I’ll give it a go at home“.

Got home, started reading one book to see how it would go, and I got about 3 chapters in before it even clicked I was using the Kindle! I felt sick! I thought – “I’ve betrayed real books, I’m a cheater and disloyal! I’m a hypocrite!” I soon calmed down and remembered that it is possible to like and use the two of them, without feeling like a total sell out.

I will always prefer real books. Nothing can beat reading paper and print novel or biography. The Kindle will just get a bit of love when I’m travelling or can’t be bothered waiting for a new release to turn up at the library.

Photo 1 found here. Photo 2 source unknown.

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    • http://drawnfromstillwater.blogspot.com.au/ Duncan

      I can so relate to this.. I don’t think I ever lose my love of the printed page, reading physical books and browsing the local library. At the same time, I suspect there is a limit to the number of books you can store in your house.. (or take when you travel). I’m moving towards having both.

    • Bek M

      Haha loved your article! I love both my Kindle and my “real” books. I think there’s room for both. The thing I love about the Kindle is that it cuts down the number of new books migrating to my house. At the moment I have 6 bookcases, and no room for any more! I’m planning to eventually replace my fantasy series (except for some favourites) on my Kindle, to free up more room in my house. As I’m renting, space is always at a premium. I wonder how other people can fit in their small places, but then I realise they don’t have the volume of books that I do. There are disadvantages to being a good op shopper!

      Of course I can’t ever see kid’s books going on the Kindle, we like the colour and the tactile experience of reading them together.

    • Monique Fischle

      Just putting it out there, I have an actual library in my house. I grew up thinking everyone had one simply because we did.

      I love books, I have a book buying addiction and I don’t have the room in my room to store them all, but I just can’t stop. I could never go completely ereader, but I definitely see the draws, especially if travelling heaps. But I think I would only go as far as buying iBooks on an iPad, so I don’t have something used solely for storing ebooks.

      Great post :)

    • http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

      I gotta say, I’m really unsentimental when it comes to books…to me it’s always been about the story and the writing…I get the same feeling of awe and wonder reading a great story on my laptop’s Kindle-Reader as I did when I used to buy physical books…

      Books take up so much room…I won’t miss them…

      Having said that, if my book is ever published, I want to see it as a physical book…just to know it’s real…yeah, hypocritical much! 😉

      • Monique Fischle

        When (not if) your book is published, I want a physical copy that you’ve signed :)

        • http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse

          Stuff that, I want my name in the acknowledgments!

    • Gail Wilkie

      I have never understood why it has to be ‘either or’ when it comes to books and e-readers(and lots of other things really). I love my books. I love owning books, I love libraries, I never even leave the house without a book (you never know when you might be stuck somewhere and in need of something to read). So when my kids gave me a Kindle for Christmas I was soooo happy. I love reading on it. I love that I can highlight bits or bookmarks things. I love how light it is and how pretty it looks in it’s little purple cover and how easy and cheap it is to download books.
      But I still love my bookshelf, my books, going to the library – that wonderful greedy joy of walking to the car with a stacks of treasure in your arms – the smell of books, the wonderful cover illustrations and that warm happy feeling you get when you see an old favourite book, like meeting an old friend you haven’t seen in a while and all the memories that come flooding back.
      My Mum still calls me a traitor for owning a Kindle, but I tell her I’m not. I love them both and I am still reading, which is the most important thing.
      :)

    • http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse

      We have a library in our house. Husband also has a study of wall to wall bookshelves.

      Growing up I never really owned that many books as I tend to be content to borrow, or read the same book over and over. I still don’t have that many books, all the ones in the house are Husband’s.

      He is very sentimental with books (I know, I’ve tried getting rid of some) and when he loves a book he even buys two copies – one for the library and one to loan to people.

      I haven’t yet attempted reading anything on my iPad. I will when I get through the current waiting list of physical books.

      • Monique Fischle

        I’m very sentimental with books too, it’s very hard for me to part with them.

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