My son's impassioned declaration made me smile. I imagined his birthday present and Christmas present sitting under a pile of discarded clothing, never to see the light of day.
"I'll never read on a tablet! I must have the smell of print, the ability to doodle in the margins, and post it notes peeking over the top edge. Otherwise it isn't real."
Opposite sentiments from my daughter were just as impassioned. Looking around at the shelves of her books in my house made me grimace. One day would she move her hoard to a home of her own?
Which is more real? Print versus digital is not a clear issue for me. I use both with equal success. Lighter weight tablets made reading in bed enjoyable. I still like writing in the margins and underlining. It helps me remember where passages are located. The page stays in my head and I can visualize the doodles. But, there are books on my tablet I decided I would never care to own. Delete is an easy way to recycle. The debate will be last, at least until the electricity stays on.
Great post and I LOVED your last line! (It made me chuckle so much!).....I'm a devout physical book reader, just can't get my head around reading books on-screen....
ReplyDeleteOh I can so relate. We used to own & operate a fair sized non-profit library with thousands of books. I've downsized considerably since then and choose carefully which print books I keep or add while also enjoying many in digital form. My own debate seems unending. :) Love the picture with your post here.
ReplyDeleteit took me a while to get a reader. Now that I have one, I do use it and really enjoy the ease of reading in darkened rooms (bedtime) or outside too. But what I like most is the ability to highlight passages, pages, quotes, etc and find the so easily again. BUT, after reading about 5 or 6 in a row on my reader, I "needed" to feel a real book in my hands, to manually flip the pages, and simply to know that the only thing in that book was those words. So, I like them both and don't have any strong views either way, though truth be told, I still really enjoy holding a paper book. Lovely post!
ReplyDelete