The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
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The future of print books
message 51:
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Sasha
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Jan 13, 2011 09:15PM
Thanks! I'll definitely give her another go.
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I have an ereader, but use it similarly to Kate for disposable consumption instead of a library book. I also use it when we travel so my luggage doesn't weigh so much. I was in a Borders this a.m. (they aren't closing the one near me), and I have to say they are doing a better job with some of their choices. There were some nice new sections like NY Times Editor Choice plus a few others. I recently bought the new Cleopatra biography and originally couldn't find it in my Borders store. They have it now.
I have a Kindle but of course I'd rather read a print book. Almost everything I read is written in English but I live in Brazil so it's hard to find the books I want to read at local book stores. Most of the books I read are public domain so I download them for free at project Gutenberg. In that sense, the kindle has been extremely useful for me. But I do agree that there's a lot of trash books being published nowadays which is the downside of ereaders.
I also prefer actual books but I do read e-books but don't do it so often because I find it difficult to stare into a screen. I have a NEED to turn pages while I read!
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Oh yeah, this is so me too! And I always save room in my luggage for books that I might find on my trip. I have also been known to mail boxes of books back to myself purchased whilst traveling!
Deborah wrote: "A real book is always my first choice. "I would love to have it be available as a first choice, but if it's a book with smaller type that your failing eyes can't read without a magnifying glass, whereas you can get the same book free on your Kindle and enlarge the type to a readable size, it's no contest.
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Chris - We live similar lives. I do the same. I actually pack an empty bag that can be folded but strong enough to check for books, and have been known to ship them back. Can't wait to be in Boston this weekend. I have my fav bookstores on my list to visit. Hubby will run the marathon, I'll have brunch at my fav restaurant within a bookstore.
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I would love to have it be available as a first choice, but if it's a book with smaller type that your failing eyes can't read without a ma..."
My vision is pretty bad. I definitely need a good light in order to read. Some print is definitely harder for me to read. Still love the regular book though. My vision is 20/400 not including the bifocal part.
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I would love to have it be available as a first choice, but if it's a book with smaller type that your failing eyes can't ..."
Again, I'm just like you! I have about the same vision too (and bifocals). I muddle along though. I did have to have my readers adjusted again this year ;-)
Christopher wrote: "Deborah wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Deborah wrote: "A real book is always my first choice. "I would love to have it be available as a first choice, but if it's a book with smaller type that your fai..."
I can't use bifocals because I have had cataract surgery and have fake lenses. Instead, I have three pairs of glasses: one for distance/driving, one for the computer distance, and one for reading distance. I change glasses at least two dozen times a day, and carry all three pairs with me wherever I go.
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Deborah wrote: "Amalie - I use my nook for some things, but nothing can beat the feel of the book in your hands, the smell of the paper, and the turning of pages. A real book is always my first choice. I use my ..."I didn't decide on Nook nor Kindle yet but with my current obsession in reading I might change my mind. Which is better by the way? And I totally understand what you mean. I too always take a book with me even when I take trips. My friends make fun of it but I'm kind a use to it now.
I can't get myself to make the change to e-readers either. Besides the feel, the smell, the whole book experience books are, well, my decor! What would I do?This is a silly observation, but not being a terribly high-fashion sort of person, when I buy a purse it has to be able to carry a BIG book or two :) I only just got to downsize from the diaper bag, now you're telling me the purse thing will get ever larger again as I age and have to begin carrying THREE pairs of glasses as well! VBG
Amalie wrote: "I didn't decide on Nook nor Kindle yet but with my current obesession in reading I might change my mind. Which is better by the way?"The answer to that question depends on your personal needs. The Kindle is the best option to me. But this article might help you make up your mind.
http://news.cnet.com/kindle-vs-nook-v...
This article goes a little deeper:
http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/1...
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It's really a personal choice. I have the first type of nook and love it. My hubby chose a kindle because he had a gift card to Amazon. I've heard great things about both of them. Go to a Barnes and Noble store and play with one before you buy, and if you know of somebody with a kindle ask if you can play with one to see which you like.
Christopher wrote: "The reading of computer screens is starting to bother me. I assume that I am going to need a new pair of glasses for middle distance soon too. "It is only within the past five years or so that the majority of ophthalmologists realized that computer use requires a different prescription than reading because the screen text appears to your eye further away than the same words on a paper page, or something like that. I don't get it, but fortunately my eye doctor does!
Camilla and Deborah, Thanks. A friend of mine use Kindle so I'm kind a familiar with it. I wanted to know about Nook too. Thanks for the info.
I love printed out books as much as any of you do. But I also think that as long as money is the backbone of society talent and effort should be payed, and payed well. Now if the industry exploits the writers, I am more than willing to put down any paperback or hardcover. I care for the text and not for the touch of it. And I care for the individual (writer) and not for the agent, the publisher or the ad behind her/him.Seeing what trash can get published (because it will sell) and finding a few pieces of treasure that got rejected (and came out self-pubbed), I'm not sure anymore if anyone can be a good judge of what works for me and what doesn't.
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With my iPad or other readers you can adjust the font size, brightness, etc. I don't find it hard on the eyes at all, but I must admit I haven't read for hours straight on it.
Robin, I know what you mean about bookstores in the midwest. I regularly go to mine and the selection in classics and foreign books is very small. I started reading ebooks on my Iphone (even Anna Karenina, talk about long!) and found that I really liked it. While I love real books (oh, the heavenly smell of bookstores) I have to admit that my new Sony ereader is wonderful. I can carry hundreds of books in my purse, look up words and phrases in the book, and mark them up to my hearts content. I am a convert!
Christopher wrote: "Everyman, I too completely empathize. I have to carry multiple pairs of glasses with me too. I stopped wearing contacts about ten years (mostly because they were just a serious pain in the ass), ..."My eyes are getting quite bad too and I am waiting for a cataract op - the eye surgeon I went to wants my right eye to get as bad as my left before he operates but I am seeking a second opinion this week and hope to get both of them done soon. Meanwhile I have several pairs of specs, bi-focal, varifocal etc and none of them help very much:(. I am better off just 'peering'! The Kindle is a great help in this respect since I can enlarge the font.
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Sounds like Paradise Deborah! I don't suppose for one minute your purchase was swayed by the bookshops...
Deborah wrote: "The new town we will be near has 3 independent used bookstores, and one independent new books. The town we will live in has at least one independent bookstore that I saw. Yesterday went into one ..."Excellent, Deborah! I'm so jealous of your being able to scout out the books in these little independent bookstores. Which books did you actually purchase? And keep us posted on your continuing adventures in book-buying, OK? And don't forget that you can always ship the books home if you're concerned they won't fit in your suitcase! Aren't I a wonderful enabler, Deb?? LOL!! Thanks.
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I only explored one store for just a few minutes before I was seriously in luggage trouble. I have been known to ship books home (from Boston, Portland (OR), and a few other places. I always pack an extra bag for books too. This time hubby refused to pay to ship books to CA to be moved back to MA. I can't really argue with that logic.
Sensible hubby - wise in the face of reader-mania:D. I bought a great woman's study on woman's roles
Oooooh! :D
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Deborah wrote: "This time hubby refused to pay to ship books to CA to be moved back to MA. I can't really argue with that logic."
But isn't putting "logic" and "book buying" in the sentence a gross oxymoron? Logically, who would ever buy a book they could borrow for free from the library or, if necessary, from a friend, or could download for free from the Internet? There is no logic to book buying. Thank goodness!
Deborah wrote: "I think that should be a reading maniac. I've also converted him. He was not a reader (nor was anyone in his family). During the last year, he has started reading on a daily basis. He has some ..."Good for him -- and for you!
Deborah wrote: "I love the fact that you are an enabler Ellen. It feels so good to be in a group of people who understand it. I bought a great woman's study on woman's roles, and 5 books of various victorian and..."You sound so much like me, Deborah! We find books irresistible and cannot possibly pass a bookstore without going in and spending some time browsing the shelves. Inevitably I walk out with at least one book, if not many. Oh, well, there are worse habits, right? LOL!!
Everyman wrote: "Deborah wrote: "This time hubby refused to pay to ship books to CA to be moved back to MA. I can't really argue with that logic."
But isn't putting "logic" and "book buying" in the sentence a gro..."
I have to agree with you! "Logic" and "book buying" are contradictory terms to me, too. I see a book I want, I buy it. No control! LOL!
I'm light sensitive,so prolonged time (anywhere from three to eight hours)in front of a screen of any kind (cell phone, computer, or TV) will send me into migraine. I not only love print books, I need them, thus my library addiction is explained though I seriously need to get a handle on it.
I have both a Nook and a Kindle, and I also read in their respective apps (and iBooks) on my iPhone. About a year ago, I moved house. I decided then that I would be e-book only. I replaced the books I wanted on digital and then donated and sold about 80% of my library. I have both devices because I like encouraging competition and spreading the wealth, as it were. My preference if definitely to Kindle, though -- I have about twice as many books there as on Nook (75:40 ~ish).Recently, I started thinking about tree books (great term), and I realized I missed them. I love their smell and feel. I love how you really know how much progress you're making just by looking at the book. So I have started buying treebooks again. Bought a bagful at B&N the other day, and I am working my way through them.
E-Readers are fantastic for traveling. They're great for disposable mass-market type books that you'll likely never read again -- action scifi, for instance, or fantasy. I expect I will keep reading Sookie Stackhouse via digital. They're great for those free classics. I'll keep buying lots of digital books.
But I miss books. And I like how they're a link to the past. People have been printing books for 600 years, and they've been hand-making them for longer.
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Reading through this thread, I'm wondering if Everyman has discovered that highlighting on the Kindle3 is as easy as pie. It's the one with the keyboard and still has the ability to enlarge the typeface that drew him to digital. I got mine early 2011 for that very reason. I wanted to read some non-fiction that I knew I would want to have highlights. I didn't think I could bring myself to write in a book-on-paper. Still can't.Well, anyway, I read about half and half paper and digital now. And I've come to see the advantages of highlighting in fiction and do it frequently - especially for books that would be appropriate reading in this group. I've found the books that are more likely to be unavailable digitally are those in the mid- to later- part of the 20th Century. They just haven't been converted, for the most part. I'm running out of room for those, too. Such a backlog. Always seeing another "shiny" thing.
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Christopher wrote: "I'll say it again--and it is just me, and just my opinion--but I'll never use an e-reader. I certainly see the advantages (and disadvantages) of an e-reader, but not for me. I'm a tactile kind of..."Amen!!
I have a NOOK Touch. Love it, and it's great for traveling,and going to the park etc...but I do love paper so much. I am reading a heavy hardback of WAR AND PEACE right now by Leo Tolstoy. What an amazing story, of course it must be in paper.
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Yes, for War and Peace it simply must be a book!
The Tome of WAR AND PEACE just feels so right in my hands.....and people know that I am reading it.....the thing about an e reader is not once has someone asked me what I am reading....but when I am holding a real book it strikes up a conversation. I just love that. I live near St. Louis, Missouri , and my inlaws live near Kansas City. My father in law was in the hospital. A huge facility,and I was reading at the time DAN BROWN'S Inferno, which you need to read, Christopher.I had a guy talk to me about it extensively in the men's room, a woman in the cafeteria, and others in the coffee shop, the hallways, etc....that never happens with an e reader.....
Rosemary wrote: "Sasha wrote: "I would be interested if anyone else is experiencing the same thing?"Sort of. I'm reading serious works at the same rate I ever was- the main consequence of my Kindle is that I als..."
Why is this I wonder? I find that Kindles and Nooks fill up easily with books that I can just dive into on the bus or train, but not books that I would want to buy in paper. I seem to rad an awful lot of Thriller and Suspense this way! Strange.
Ian @ Collectiblecat.com
Online Catalog of Collectible Books.
I use an e-reader, and my first two self-published books were digital only, partly because they were fairly brief.But I have to tell you, since I published my third book in kindle AND paperback formats, the paperback is outselling the digital edition three to one, despite being several quid more expensive, and it taking several days to arrive in the post, rather than being downloadable in a matter of minutes.
Print will survive, in some form, for many many years to come. Certainly people will still be reading paper books throughout my lifetime.
Everyman wrote: "Christopher wrote: "Deborah wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Deborah wrote: "A real book is always my first choice. "I would love to have it be available as a first choice, but if it's a book with smalle..."
I completely feel for you. I also have a few different
pairs of glasses of different strengths - one for
reading, one for watching TV and another so I won't
look a fool looking too closely at labels etc in
supermarkets (and to think I used to laugh at "Mr.
Magoo"). For me it's a printed book every time,
although sometimes I will pick up a book, look at
the print and think "I'd better get to that one
soon or it may be soon a case of wishful thinking"!!
Funny that I found this thread from 2010, talking about digital publication here! I have been working on bringing short stories to our phones (https://www.minutetale.com). I personally love reading short stories and given the amount of time I spend on my smart phone reading articles, I thought it'd be great to read some fiction instead and that's how I started with this concept. This is an old thread, I am not sure if anyone will see this comment, but if you do and this sounds interesting to you, do let me know what you feel about this concept!
Note to mods: While I am trying to spread the word about MinuteTale, I am posting this comment here not from a promotional perspective but to gather some feedback from readers on a topic highly relevant to the work I am doing. However, please do delete it if you think it's inappropriate.
There isn't enough information on your link for me to be tempted.
I don't read many short stories and prefer the full length novels when it comes to reading stories. I like the electronic format, but would not sign up to a subscription.
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