Isn’t there? Though this may be the age of e-readers and e-books, which take up less space and enable you to have your library with you where ever you go, somehow, nothing beats the experience of reading a physical book. It’s weight. It’s smell. It’s heft. The sound of a page turning in the middle of the night. Of underlining passages. Scribbling notes in the margins. Displaying your collection on a bookshelf. Until it overflows. Spills over from the shelves. Having them piled up near your bed. On the coffee table. In the kitchen. Everywhere you look – a tantalizing cover looking back at you. Whispering its secrets into your ear.
Yes, there’s something to be said for a physical book.
I say this after reading e-books. Despite reading e-books. Which reminds me, I have to download one recommended by The Huffington Post. It’s free, it’s fast, it will travel all over the world with me.
But I will still enter bookstores. And walk out with a bag full of books under my arms.
Because…
There’s something to be said about the smell of a book…
Book lovers tend to get very defensive when people praise e-readers, as though liking them means you are disparaging physical books. Personally, I enjoy reading both and think there is a place for both, although I do think the way we publish, print and then pulp the books that people don’t buy has to change – print on demand has got to be the way to go…
Well….there are advantages to both mediums, and I do read on e-readers as well…but all the bookstores going belly-up makes me really sad. I absolutely love printed books, and it would be a crying shame if they were to disappear…as for print on demand, I’m not sure how feasible that would be – for authors, publishers, readers. Would we just end up killing the medium? Who can tell?
I agree! I still buy books, and I prefer to carry a book over an e-reader. I like to sift through the pages, I like to re-read passages that stand out for me… I like to curl up on the couch, or in my bed and read all night. E-readers don’t offer the same comfort level – to me, reading is sometimes comforting. Books have a totally different feel than Kobo, or Kindle or whatever!
lol Ann – Kindle! 😉 yes, there is something comforting about printed books. Thumbing through a well-worn copy, with notes scribbled in the margins & passages underlined – that’s something that technology cannot replicate.
Visiting via SITS31DBBB, LOVE your post!! Saw the post title on one of your comments and just had to come over and read. My daughter (another avid book reader) and I were just discussing this. Although an e-reader would be very convenient for me (I tend to read about 4 or 5 books at the same time), there is just something I LOVE about turning pages. I can tell be the bend of the pages how many times its been read. And I am a visual learner; if its a self-help or cookbook, I can visualize where what I am looking for is on the page…can’t do that with an e-reader!!
So glad you hopped over, & to meet more printed book lovers! My cookbooks are covered with notes in the margins – smaller/bigger ingredient lists, little tweaks to the original recipe. Just turning the pages conveys so much history! 🙂