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Digital v Paper

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Geoff

Geoff

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I have noticed, since the start of Lockdown, that I am starting to prefer reading novels on Kindle rather than opening up a book to read, not that I have given up completely, it is just digital seems to have become more convenient. Working from home on a work laptop, or writing on my personal laptop, it is so easy just to click on the Kindle App and I am away in seconds. To resume where I left off, I can just pick my Kindle and refresh. This may change when I am back in the office, when work and home wave a fond goodbye to each other, who knows? Has anyone else had a similiar experience, or is it just me going through a phase?
 
Well, for different reasons, I only use Kindle. And I love how I can highlight a phrase that tickles my fancy and come back to it. And I love how I can switch between devices and (most of the time) end up on the same page. Even audible syncs with Kindle (my fav way of reading is listening and reading, but that's expensive so I only do it occasionally).
 
Geoff said:
Plus .... I get to carry over a hundred books around with me...

I will have to give it a try!
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It's the carrying a hundred books around with me that's the selling point for me. Especially when I'm struggling with something, writing-wise, and want to examine how other authors have handled it--I can flick through the Kindle and quickly access examples I remember from my reading. And for teaching, it's brilliant. The students bring up some question or other, and I can whip out the Kindle and read them something to illustrate my answer.
 
For me it's a financial thing. I can pay $3-5 NZD for a ebook or $25++ for a paperback. Don't get me started on hardbacks here, the cost is eye-watering:eek:. The only time I tend to buy hardcopy these days is at writer festivals/events directly from the authors themselves.
 
I've books (real ones) dotted all over the house in convenient places for a read (like on all the windowsills, ha ha); but also have kindle on my phone, which is perfect for the five minutes you have while waiting somewhere or in a queue. I don't have a favourite, but like Rachel, I love being able to highlight parts that I like on a kIndle, and also (esp when reading nonfiction) I can save passages or info and send them to myself by email, rather than having tiny bits of paper stuck between pages throughout a (real) book and then having to go back and transcribe. Buuuut.... real books: ahhhh! the smell, the feel, the sensory pleasure of paper in your hands.... :)
 
I like real books. I spend enough time staring at screens so I like being off the computer and lost in the pages of the book. When I go places (which might happen again) I take a bag big enough for a book. I like sitting outside in good weather and reading a book. If I want to remember passages, I write them down or remember where roughly in the book they are so I can find them again. I never write on books. I like bookmarks.
 
Emily said:
Buuuut.... real books: ahhhh! the smell, the feel, the sensory pleasure of paper in your hands...
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I must admit you have a very point @Emily. I went though a phase of buying antiquarian books, one of which is from the 17th Century has a very distinctive touch and feel and may well have been touched and held by a number people over the centuries. My favourite is a large family bible from 1787, which, when I opened it up had old family Library tickets from 1870 to 1910, pressed flowers, Victorian newspaper cuttings, a handwritten list of the family births from 1823 to 1896, doodles on the blank pages, and lots of loose paper with a few words, all between the pages. I doubt I would find that on a KIndle
 
Geoff said:
My favourite is a large family bible from 1787, which, when I opened it up had old family Library tickets from 1870 to 1910, pressed flowers, Victorian newspaper cuttings, a handwritten list of the family births from 1823 to 1896, doodles on the blank pages, and lots of loose paper with a few words, all between the pages.
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Geoff, that actually makes me feel light headed! Amazing. I've my grand aunts old Catholic Missal (like a prayer book with all the Masses in it) from around 1906. It is a tiny palm sized book, but like that, stuffed; - mostly with mass cards of the deceased!! - but a few pressed leaves and receipts and so on. I love even just the touch and smell of it! I hope you have kept your bible for a good sniff and smell and moments of delight :)
 
Emily said:
(you know, I'm here laughing away to myself thinking that our very own Voice Of God has an ancient Bible in a bookcase next to his desk :D That's pretty perfect, @Geoff!!)
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LOL!!! I never thought of that! Perhaps it's a sign?
 
Geoff said:
Here you go - a few pictures: the cover, front page and some of the thngs I found inside ...
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Oh Geoff, that IS amazing, and in such fantastic condition! I though after a couple of hundred tears things like the pressed foliage would have disintegrated. What a treasure!
 
I find that much as I love "book" books, I'm gravitating towards eBooks more and more. For many of the same reasons that have already been mentioned. I use my iPad Mini with the Kindle App and it's so convenient. Also, it allows me to search for something in the text by word or character name or whatever, say if I want to look at the craft. It's a zillion times easier than thumbing through the pages of a printed book.

Also, I always have an audiobook on when out for my daily walk.

I do feel like a bit of a charlatan and traitor sometimes, but it's a slippery slope, and I am becoming less inclined to try and slither my way back up to the top, where I started as a nipper, literally with Billy Bunter books propped up against a milk bottle as I ate my dinner.

I was reading my much-loved and badly knackered copy of Carry On, Jeeves, only last week and found it a bit of a faff. I had the decency to feel ashamed though.

Afterthought. I would of course want anything I published in a proper physical book. So what's all that about? :)
 
Geoff said:
I must admit you have a very point @Emily. I went though a phase of buying antiquarian books, one of which is from the 17th Century has a very distinctive touch and feel and may well have been touched and held by a number people over the centuries. My favourite is a large family bible from 1787, which, when I opened it up had old family Library tickets from 1870 to 1910, pressed flowers, Victorian newspaper cuttings, a handwritten list of the family births from 1823 to 1896, doodles on the blank pages, and lots of loose paper with a few words, all between the pages. I doubt I would find that on a KIndle
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Yes. Love those old books! I have a copy of Wood's Natural History from 1850 that my grandfather gave me. Love the quality of the paper--so thick and full of texture compared to modern paper.
 
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