A Surprising Discovery…
As I've posted on Facebook and in other places, I'm eager to read Steve Jobs' biography. So I've been dithering whether to buy the book or buy a download for the Kindle. What I've discovered is that as much as I like that Kindle, there are some books that are just too delicious not to have a *real* book in my hands. Something tells me that the book about Steve Jobs is one of those.
This discovery was a "wow" moment for me because I thought I was ambivalent. I thought books in print had been replaced in my mind by Kindle books.
So I started thinking about other books I might like to read or have already read and I asked myself, "Kindle or print book?" I made a short list of the ones I would just have to read in their print format if I hadn't already read them. Here's a small part of my fiction list in no particular order. I prefer a print-on-paper edition of every one of these books.
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
HEART OF THE WEST by Penelope Williamson
THE OUTSIDER by Penelope Williamson
LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry
THE DEATH OF THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway
SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
RIDE THE WIND by Lucia St Clair Robson
DEEP END OF THE OCEAN by Jacquelyn Mitchard
All of Nicholas Evans' books
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Those are just a few. Then there are the non-fiction books I would prefer to have in traditional print form. That list is much longer. There's just something about a non-fiction book that calls for one you can hold in your hands. Many of my non-fiction titles are research books and I haven't yet mastered how to find things in the Kindle downloads.
In addition, I get a little panicky at the idea that you don't really own anything with digital readers except the reader itself. The content is out there in cyberspace somewhere in that nebulous *cloud* and you're only *using* it. I can't get past the feeling that it could be yanked at any time.
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None of this is to take away from the convenience, the ease and the utter out-of-this worldness of reading a book digitally. I do love it. Even my husband loves it. As I've said before, he can't deal with a cell phone, but he can use the Kindle. The technology is revolutionizing both bookselling and book publishing.
But in thinking about it, I wonder if a lot of readers will turn out to be like me. Some books on the Kindle, some not. Do all of you have digital readers now. And are you devoted fans? Or are there still books out there that you would prefer to read printed on paper?
I just hope the day never comes when the print books will no longer be available.
Anna J
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