I love reading, always have done. I always had a high reading age at school and by the time I hit secondary school I was well and truly into adult fiction. Bizarrely it was mainly horror – James Herbert to be precise. I think I’ve read everything he has ever written and most of them when I was a teenager. If I re-read them now some of them seem so grisly it’s a wonder I wasn’t terrified of them , but I loved them.
I read very quickly too. Pre-Monkey I could read a novel in a day (there’s no way I have enough time for that now) but even now it still often only takes me a few days to get through a book if I am really enjoying it. I love all sorts of books, as long as it is well written and keeps to the point, I get really frustrated at reading pages of extraneous details that actually seem completely irrelevant to the storyline. I love fantasy, chick lit, historical fiction, science fiction, crime, thriller, drama, horror, romance (though I have to be in the right mood otherwise I just find it a bit cringy). It depends what I want. Sometimes it’s nice just to read a bit of lighthearted fun, whereas other times I want to be gripped or challenged, or sometimes I want to learn a bit of history at the same time. I love a good saga that extends over numerous books. Maybe because I read so quickly, I always want to know what happens next!
A great find!
Travelling was amazing as I did book swaps in hostels and read some amazing books that I may never have read otherwise, and what better to spend the hours and hours on a bus, plane or train than buried in a good book (pausing to look at the scenery from time to time too of course!). A few of the books even made it home, some I packaged up and sent home along with other gifts or souvenirs, others stayed with me for the final few months. “Safely Home” is an amazing book, all about Christianity in China, and one I will keep forever.
After watching a TV adaptation of Ken Follet’s World Without End recently I decided to re-read the book. I love Ken Follett’s books, they are very entertaining, but sadly the TV imitation was a poor, poor relation to the book, barely even the same story at times, such a shame! Anyway, I bought World Without End quite a long time ago, not realising it was the second book of a series. The prequel I did not buy until much later, by which time I had a kindle.
Now I know traditionalists love the feel of a book and I get it, there’s something wonderful about a book, but…. a kindle (or any other e-reader I’m sure) is just so much easier.
A Tome!
So I read the first book, Pillars of the Earth on my kindle. Then I dug out my copy of World Without End and well, as you can see, it’s a hell of a book. Huge. Heavy. Cumbersome. I started reading it in bed one night, and with any book of this size I always find the first pages and the last are the hardest to read as you are off balance, a few pages in one hand, a tome in the other. After nearly dropping it a couple of times, hubby just looked at me and said ‘Why don’t you just buy it on the kindle?’ so I did. I picked up my kindle, did a quick search, bought if for a few quid and there it was, downloaded and ready to read.
There are many reasons I love having my kindle. They include:
Portability, I can take it anywhere. usually just upstairs on downstairs but if i do go anywhere it pops in my bag and doesn’t weigh me down all day like a book. Also, if I don’t have my kindle with me at that moment, I have a kindle app for my phone (which is free) so wherever I am, I can pick up my phone, it will synchronise to the page I was on in the kindle and I can carry on. I have my phone with me all the time and when monkey was diddy if he crashed out on me and I couldn’t move, I just had to get my phone out of my pocket and I could have a good read while he slept.
I can personalise the font sizes. I have glasses that I should wear for reading and PC use. Do I remember to take them with me, or even use them when they are nearby? No. With the kindle though, especially I find if I am tired, I can just up the font size a bit so I am not straining my eyes. Which means less migraines! (I’m aware actually wearing my glasses would have the same result!)
Storage space. I love books, and because I read quite quickly, I love keeping them to read over and over. I do give books away when I know the story so well that it wouldn’t be much fun to re-read, or books I wasn’t that keen on first time round. But for the most part, I love hanging on to them. The problem is where to store them? We have some books out downstairs, some on shelves upstairs, some in a cupboard, and loads under the bed in the spare room. But we really don’t have room for any more. I have over 100 books on my kindle now too and I don’t know what I would have done with all of them!
There are downsides. You can’t lend someone a book as easily and in our family books get shared around a lot when we’ve loved them. Hubby and use the same amazon account for our kindles so we can both enjoy the same books (though not really at the same time) without having to buy them twice.
Browsing on amazon can be fun but it isn’t the same as browsing and reading blurbs in a library, book shop or charity shop.
Images aren’t the same on a kindle. If there’s a map or diagram at the beginning or end (or even a reference section of names or a glossary) you can’t flick backwards and forwards as easily on a kindle as you can with a book.
As much as I love my kindle, and find it immensely useful, we encourage Monkey to read from actual books and will continue to do so. In my opinion kindles and e-readers are fantastic and make some aspects of reading much easier… but they aren’t perfect and can’t entirely replace books.
What do you think? Book or Kindle?
Book! I’m a bookworm and have yet to move to a Kindle. I love browsing and holding books, and I also think I’d overspend on Amazon if I could have cheap, instant books! You make some good arguments for it, though. Oh, and I loved Herbert as a teen, too – really enjoyed the Rats books. Thanks for sharing with #TheThemeGame
I can totally understand that, I love books too, but its the practical reasons that have turned me into a bit of a convert 🙂 xx
I’ve touched on this a very little bit in my ‘Paper’ post too Caroline (up tomorrow!). Essentially I agree with you – I think if I had a mansion with its own library I’d just keep on buying actual books but where is the space?? !
Ha ha oh yes we have grand plans for a library in our dream mansion… But in the meantime a kindle is more practical for me 🙂 xx
I completely agree with you. I love reading and have books and a kindle, the main reason I buy kindle books is simply to save space as storage is a valuable commodity in our house! But I don’t think children can develop the same love of books I had as a child from a kindle so all of Jakes books will be proper books probably until he is much older.
I quite like that the kindle and ereaders haven’t wiped out books, as I really do think they bring a whole other aspect of reading a book that kids especially should experience. I wouldn’t do without the kindle for me though! Xx
I love holding a book and am lucky as our library is close by and really helpful too. Kindle is perfect for holidays as I take about three or four books with me. I love reading.
Yep I got my love of reading from you mama 🙂 there’s definitely a place for both books and kindle I think! Xx
As a self-publisher of 2 eBooks but a lover of physical books, this is a toughie… For practicalities of publishing and reading I would have to say eBooks. However, nothing quite beats browsing in a physical bookshop and then taking your purchases hme or to the local over-priced coffee shop to while away some reading time!
Ooh interesting perspective! I think both are hood in different ways and I hope that both continue to grow side by side rather than one wiping the other put, as there is definitely positives to both! Xx
Someone tried to convince me to donate all my real books to a hospital and just have a kindle, but to be honest I love looking at books, peering at other people’s collections when I visit their homes and sharing books which you just can’t do on a kindle – or at least I haven’t worked out how to! Having said this, when I go away I do prefer to take my kindle, so it serves a different purpose for me. From one bookworm to another, thanks for linking up to #AllAboutYou!
I know exactly what you mean, I love the usefulness of my kindle, but there’s no way I would get rid of my books! Xx 🙂
I think there’s an argument for both. I love the touch and feel of a book, but the convenience and portability of the Kindle is hard to beat too. I wish it had been around when my daughter was little-she was always crashing out in the car and I’d be stuck with nothing to do! Having access to something like the Kindle would have been fab. We have a Kindle although my husband and daughter use it more than I do. Having recently lost loads of beloved books to water bad nice I can definitely see the appeal of having more copies digitally though. I do agree, we try to encourage both children to read books as well as digital books too. Thanks for sharing with #TheThemeGame
I’m very glad it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation as I too love both for different reasons too! Xx
I just got a Nook for Christmas and I’m loving it! I love books and didn’t think I’d like an ereader, but I really do! I found your blog through the #AllAboutYou link party.
I’m the same, I really wasn’t sure to start with but now I love it and wouldn’t do without it! Thanks for popping by! Xx
I love my kindle and wouldn’t be without it. Like you said it is very portable and is so easy to read. I often use mine while keeping an eye on dinner, it’s so light I can hold it in one hand while stirring with the other! At the moment I’m reading To Kill A Mockingbird which you can’t get on the kindle and if I’m honest I’m not getting through it as quickly as I probably would if it were on the kindle. The book sits on my bedside table and I read at night when I’m in bed. The book doesn’t move from that spot. My kindle however, is with me always. #AllAboutYou
I know exactly what you mean, i read so much faster on the kindle as I carry it around, books take me much longer to finish! Xx
I love the feel of books, but I ADORE my Kindle… I love that I can download a sample chapter or two before I decide to buy (regrets after purchase minimised) and I love how easy it is to hold. I just wish that I’d had one when M was a baby, it would have been so easy to read and breastfeed comfortably, sigh. Thanks for linking up to #AllAboutYou
Oh yes, sample chapters are great as you get an idea about the book without having to waste any money. It was so useful when monkey was diddy, much easier than balancing a baby and a book 🙂 xx
There’s just something about holding a book and turning the pages, oh and the old book smell, for me to ever get on the Kindle-wagon. #allaboutme
I know what you mean, but the practical side of me does love the kindle I have to admit! 🙂 xx
Popping by from the Theme Game (my first visit) and I, like most ahead of me – can’t decide and I am so glad I don’t have to! I adore books and libraries, but I couldn’t live with out my Nook!
I must comment on your bravery. HORROR? Yikes! My friends still tell stories about the month it took me to read “It” – the first, last and only scary book I have read. Poor book, I tossed it across the room and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor when something made me jump up in terror and have to run to the neighbors.
Great post, great question! #TheThemeGame
Ha ha I am so glad we don’t have to decide either! Ha ha I know, I hate horror films now but for some reason can still tolerate a book…. though have to admit I’m not sure i could read It, even the thought creeps me out! Thank you 🙂 xx
I love books too but don’t have a Kindle so cannot comment on which would be better. However I love the feel of a book in my hand and the look of lots of books on the shelves. I also love browsing a good bookshop (much better than Amazon) and something I always try and find time to do when I come back to the UK … French bookshops are nice but not quite as good as my favourite bookshops in England! #MadMidWeekBogHop
I totally hear what you’re saying and I do love a good browse in a bookshop or library, but I can’t deny the practical side of a kindle! Interesting to hear that about French bookshops, but I guess it’s inevitable to have a soft spot for the English counterparts 🙂
I’ve never used a kindle but I can see how practical they are, I am however a hopeless romantic and love nothing more than the whole sensory experience of the a real book! The smell of the pages, the creases and stained pages and the memories that come flooding back of who you were, where you were … pure nostalgia! Loved hearing #AllAboutYou
I can totally relate to that but I am quite converted to the kindle now and feel I still get the feelings of nostalgia when I re-read a book on it, I guess it’s the words for me that create the feeling. It’s interesting to hear the views though and thank goodness we don’t have to choose! xx
This has made me want to dust off my kindle! I got it as a present a few Christmases ago, and went through a phase of using it all the time. I mainly downloaded all the free (out of copyright!) novels – so loads of Dickens and Jane Austen, as well as Treasure Island and other older classics. I loved reading Dickens’ “Our Mutual friend” – a MASSIVE book, but not so intimidating in kindle form!
Great post! Kx
#MMWBH
Ooh yes dust it off and have a read. There are some great books that they randomly do for free or for even a few pence which I love, great to discover new authors! Ha ha yes I can imagine it is a lot less intimidating when you are not holding the heavy book! Thank you 🙂 xx
i have had the same dilemma! however i am keeping with the real live book 🙂
It’s so interesting hearing everyone#s opinions – I thought I would always stick with books… but I love my kindle 🙂 xx
Very Good questions, and I like your answers, but I’m not a convert yet. I still have my hundreds of books….there is one thing I’ve thought of though, what if there was a fire at home…at least with a kindle you could save your books!
That is a very good point and another to add to my reasons for loving a kindle 🙂 xx
I have some ebooks in the ipad but I never ever finish them. Real books are well real. They make you use your other sense than seeing and it makes reading more enjoyable! =)
#pocolo
interesting! I guess I don’t feel the difference between them anymore – maybe because the kindle screen is more like the page of a book than an ipads? WHo knows, thanks for commenting though 🙂 xx
I have to say that I sit on the fence on this one and feel that there is still a place for both! I love the feel of a book but I find a kindle very useful. Thank you for linking to PoCoLo x
Yup, thank goodness we don’t actually have to choose – I think there’s definitely still a place for both too 🙂 xx
I’m not a big reader so when I read I like to do it properly with a real book 🙂 x
Ah I can understand that 🙂 xx
I like my kindle as it is light and portable but a pain when i’ve forgotten to charge it and i wanted to read!! We read books to the girls and encourage reading too. #pocolo
haha ooh yes I can relate to that, very frustrating! 🙂 xx
I always said I wouldn’t get a kindle – there’s something so magical about losing yourself in the pages of a good book that I didn’t think could be replicated on a screen. I must say though, that I do love my kindle. It’s so much easier to just download books on the go and then there’s the issue of storing books. It won’t ever be the same as a real book, but I wouldn’t be without mine now #PoCoLo
I am in complete agreement with you and I think there is a place for both 🙂 xx
Book. Every time. I have this obsession, ritual even where nothing comes close to the satisfaction of breaking the spine of a brand new read. Great post so thanks for sharing it with the #madmidweekbloghop
Aww really, I can understand that, but kindle definitely wins for me at the moment purely from a usefulness perspective 🙂 xx