Last year in October I dyed some sections of my hair neon purple. There was no particular reason for me to have purple hair, it just seemed like something worth trying. I was curious if it wold affect the way people interacted with me and/or the way I felt about myself. As far as I can tell, it didn’t really have much of an impact other than being novel.
Much of my life lately seems to hinge on that novelty factor. There’s such a rush from trying new things, or experimenting with new ways of doing things.
One thing, however, that I thought would always be a constant in my life, is my love for books. But ever since I started reading e-books, my love for actual books with paper pages has waned. I like being able to browse through a text quickly via keyword searching. I like being able to jump from TOC to chapter with the click of a link. And having all of my devices synced to that exact page in the novel that I’m reading…has stimulated my love of reading all over again. Instead of needing to carry a book with me to fill in the gaps of my day, I can simply turn on the kindle app on my phone, and be back where I stopped reading the night before.
What about you, are you reading ebooks? If so, how are you liking them? Are they changing your reading habits?
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Not yet, but a couple women in my book group do, and whenever I say “oh, that’s going to be a heavy one to carry around,” they wave their slim little e-readers and remind me that it’s a paper problem. Whenever I say, “why can’t all books have footnotes?” — same thing. So I’m starting to see the point!
I think we talked about this in Oakland, but I’m finally starting to see the appeal, too. I’m a total book snob, all about the experience of cracking open a book, the heft of it, the smell of it, the feeling of pages turning, and so on. But I carry books with me everywhere – I’d sooner be caught without my wallet than without a book – and I can definitely appreciate the slimness and lightness of an e-reader. I’m nowhere near ready to outright buy one – especially because I’m in no hurry to start buying books at all – but I’m inching closer.
I finally gave in and ordered a book for my husband’s kindle. I was shocked how much quicker I was able to get through a book and how much easier it was to read with a baby in arm. So out of practicality I’m a convert, but if it’s a book I really love, I’ll probably still try to find a deal on a hard copy. I just can’t give up the idea of bookshelves full of words on pages that I can feel and share.