Here I am, sitting on the beach under my umbrella and reading about the adventures of Rose and Daisy Greene. The sound of the waves has put me to sleep and suddenly I wake up to water hitting my legs. But where is my book? Aunt Penny, I hope this doesn’t happen to you (or anyone else for that matter) but if it did…would it be your E-Reader or your paper back?
Personally, I could go either way. Paperbacks are always nice because they are free at the library, but they are bulky and annoying to hold. My Kindle on the other hand is nice to read books and play games, but I can’t bring it to school. My friend, Sammie, has a very passionate hatred for E-Readers, so I asked her to tell me why real books are better. I was watching her messages come through and laughing out loud…her:
“I’m just not good with technology in general, but besides that, I love books. And it’s not only the words in, but the actual physical book. I love the smell of books, especially old ones. And having physical copies is nice too, because you can feel and touch them. It’s also a nice feeling seeing it’s pretty cover sitting on your book shelf. Sometimes, I’ll just buy books for the sake of owning them. With physical copies, you can throw the book at the wall when something happens, or the book ends in a cliffhanger. Although, it can get damaged from drowning in your tears, though that is a problem with E-Readers as well. I like turning pages for some odd reason. And you can know how much of the book left- not in a percent, but in pages. There’s that horrible feeling you get when everything’s happy and whatever horrible conflict has been solved but there are too many pages left in the book for there to be a happy ending. Or the opposite, in which there are not enough pages for all that needs to happen in the book. In the end, I just like the simple act of owning and holding a physical copy of a book with pages you can turn that you can see all the words on, instead of staring at a screen and having to deal with going back and forth between parts. But books are awesome in general so if you’re reading, I shouldn’t berate you for using an e reader and it’s all good I guess!”
Wow, I literally sat here for 15 minutes cutting that down. I guess you get the idea that E-Readers are not actually popular with the young crowd. In fact, I struggled to find a friend that preferred E-Readers. Actually, I didn’t. So I went the other way and asked my grandmother, Christine “Goggi’ Clover. You probably know her as the artist that drew all of those pictures and such in earlier posts. Anyway, here is her input:
“Book, E-Reader, Book, E-Reader…what to do…I like the E-Reader. I’d like to say I’m trying to be hip, but the practicality wins it for me. Being of a ‘certain age’ I like the fact that I can adjust the font on my kindle to a size that I can actually see (and that gets a good laugh from my Granddaughters). Also it’s lightweight and flat, so it doesn’t take up much room in my handbag or tote. And late on a sleepless night, I can read without bothering anyone by needing to have a light on…which reminds me of hiding under the covers reading by flashlight after ‘lights out’ years ago”…ah memories.
The E-Reader / Paperback debate will probably continue forever. Regardless of my preference, I still fell asleep under my umbrella and my copy of Roses and Daisies is still out in the ocean. It is my loss, but at least I got a blog out of it!