I was perusing Goodreads today (as I do every day) and came across a particular book: It's a Book by Lane Smith
And excuse me as I climb on top of a brief soap box that many people may or may not agree with. However, to start off, here is a short history of my foray into reading and book-worm goodness:
I've always been a reader. When I was younger, I openly admitted to fellow students that I planned to read every book found in our school's library, starting from authors whose last names begin with an 'A', and moving forward. Whenever I visited the public library with friends, a running joke was that they would randomly select a book (whether they had personally read it themselves or not) and tell me that it was a fantastic read and that I needed to give it a chance. By the time we were finished with our day at the library, I would leave with a nice sized stack of at least five or more books to finish within the next two weeks.
Books have always drawn my attention. I like to walk through book sections of most stores, looking through titles, admiring illustrations, reading summaries, flipping through pages to read excerpts here and there. Even if I never buy anything, I still get some sort of addicted kick out of being around shelves and shelves of books. My friends know better than to take me to a book store if we're on a tight itinerary -- I can easily spend upwards of two to three hours just looking at different book titles and trying to decide what I want to buy and what I don't want to buy. To quote one of the reviewers of the Goodreads' community on the It's a Book page:
I like walking around, basket on my arm, adding to it any item that catches my fancy. I like agonizing over which of my carefully selected books will be going home with me as I weigh my wants against what my meager bank account will allow me to have. I love the feel of books, the smell of books, the covers of books. I love turning pages. I love seeing what others are reading.
-- Amanda from the Goodreads' community
Those words absolutely describe my life as a bookstore lurker for the past ten or more years since the first time I could drive myself to a bookstore and could afford to buy a book for my own personal bookshelf.
I'm a huge fan of books, stories, reading... etc... If I can get a lovely, exciting, fantastic story out of the written word, I'm more than ecstatic.
The one scenario I've been coming across a lot lately is a particular co-worker who likes to throw this phrase at me whenever I'm reading during our slow time at work: "No time for reading, time for rocking!" And then when I ignore her, she'll do what she can to get my attention in the form of, "Did you hear me? No time for reading, time for rocking!" When she finally gets my attention and I'm all, "Yea, I heard you." She somehow gets around to, "Geez, you're in a bad mood tonight."
No, no. I was in a stellar mood. I'm not angry at anyone, but you just ignored the big ten foot aura that very clearly says "DO NOT POKE THE BEAST". That aside, I know what her stance on reading is anyway-- she's told me before that she doesn't read, that she gets her entertainment from movies. So to her, it's a strange phenomena that I love to read more than I like watching movies. To her, reading is no fun, it's boring, it's not exciting. And so on more than one occasion, she's more than demanded that I try watching certain movies and it frustrates her when I told her I haven't seen some of her favorites. We could say that her love for movies is similar to my love of books.
But to be honest, I live on the motto of: "To each their own." And yet while I never said anything to her about her own personal interests, I've gotten silent scrutiny more often than I would like to receive about my love for reading.
***
But anyway, the above side rant is something for a different day -- it's an ongoing battle that'll sit at stale mate forever because I'm not sure anyone who believes that "books are boring" will ever understand a bookworm's fascination with the written word.
Back to the big ol' E-reader versus Hard copy books debate, shall we?
Where was I even going with this?
Ah, yes. I'm a fan of books. I buy books like some women buy shoes or purses. It's my addiction. My current bookshelf houses 147 paperback and hardback books, some of which are anthologies and some of which are multiple books compiled into volumes. It was a big struggle for me to finally sit down and go through all of my books one day and eliminate about fifteen of them for one reason or another and take them to the Friends of the Public Library as a donation. And yet, after sitting down and making inventory, I still had 147 books in my possession and I still managed to find more books to add to my collection.
But here's the kicker:
I AM a proud owner of a Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch. To add insult to injury, I'm also in the midst of considering a Kindle Fire HD.
Why do I bring this up?
From reading a select few reviews of It's a Book, I came to realize something that I've always known: That there are still people who reject the E-reader for the sole reason that they think it'll force the various forms of hard copy books into non-existence.
From just reading the various reviews, it seems that this book points out something quite disturbing: that a person who enjoys the convenience and "nifty" gadgetry of an E-reader is thought of as akin to a jackass who will never understand the pleasures of holding or flipping through the pages of a "real book" on printed paper and bound. There's a very distinct undertone of teasing hostility against those of us who have found and enjoy the benefits of owning an E-reader. It almost sounds like we're being stereotyped into one specific category of un-sophistication -- that the hefty weight of a bound tome is much more good and mighty than an electronic "nifty gadget" of convenience. That a hard copy paper back is a "true" book while the E-reader is the "anti-book".
And frankly, as a self-proclaimed bookworm, I'm a little offended by those implications. I LOVE my E-reader. I love the idea of more of the written word being made available in more convenient forms. I love that sometimes I don't have to carry a particular book around from one place to another in order to make sure I can continue reading from where I left off on that particular copy. I love how convenient it is to carry around a library of 52 books and be able to pick and choose which one I would like to start reading, all within one little thin package of Barnes and Noble Nook. I love that I can access my e-book libraries (yes, count'em, plural) anywhere where there is internet available (so yes, the death of internet will probably mean a total nervous break down for me). I love that I can set my E-reader down while I eat and read at the same time (because I like multi-tasking), because this is something I've never been able to do with a paperback book.
Most importantly (for a hermit and an introvert like myself), I love that I don't have to leave my home just to go buy a book that I desperately want to own; it especially works out for me as a night owl and 3rd shift worker and there is no bookstore open but you still want to get that new release at 2:00 A.M. and start reading it.
But my love for E-books and E-readers in no way takes away from my love of having a solid, paper printed, bound book in my hand. I still have my shelf of 147 paperback and hard back books. I just added onto that collection less than a month ago. I still find pleasure in seeing each different cover of each book, their illustrations, their colors, their feel and their smell. I still love going to a bookstore and flipping through pages and glancing at randomly chosen excerpts to assess whether or not I'll enjoy the book based on a paragraph or so of Chapter 17 of such and such book. Admittedly, this is something you CANNOT do with an e-book since the online community provides you with what excerpts it believes you should see, and sometimes not enough of it. As I've already mentioned, I can easily spend hours in a bookstore and leave with nothing but a bookmark, just one book, or nothing at all. And while I'm at it, an e-book doesn't allow you to just show someone the cover of your book when asked the question: "What'cha readin'?" which is an inevitable question by people whether they really care what you're reading or not.
I'll admit that it has been a long time since I visited the library for reasons of "browsing" for a random book or stack of books to take home. I'll admit that I really like the idea of being able to conveniently borrowing e-books from the e-book section of our public library online. Sometimes, some of us just don't have time to take a purposeful trip to the library or the book store to browse for hours (not that I wouldn't still do it, mind you, but priorities take... well, priority, you know). And so I opt to browse the internet for new book releases, random book recommendations, anything that catches my eye, and make a note of them. At a later time, when I have time, I'll check that book out online (all I need is a summary and maybe an excerpt or a sample) and decide whether or not this book might be worth reading (or owning).
In my own personal opinion (which I hope in no way influences anyone else's preferences), my love for books lies more or less with that particular book's reading worth and value: the story line, the writing style, the world it creates, the excitement it can convey... Whether I'm reading a "real" book or an e-book, all of those elements don't change. I love holding a "real" book in my hands and flipping through pages just as much as I love setting my Nook on the table and moving through each page with a quick tap while my hands are preoccupied with other activities. In the end, I still get the same experience from the story I'm reading and to me, it doesn't matter whether I'm reading it as an electronic product or a printed product.
I admit that it would be sad if our future ends up seeing an extinction of printed ink in a bound tome format. I grew up with printed books and libraries. I feel like every child should experience having a real book in their hands and being able to flip through the pages and enjoy said experience. My dream is to own a large personal library with walls and walls of shelves filled with books. But I also don't think it's wrong to have a "nifty gadget" of convenience for those of us who have found and enjoy the benefits of owning an e-reader, or who have discovered the advantages of an e-book library.
So what if some people feel like an E-reader is a just a trendy gadget following along with the times. I honestly believe that smart phones and I-Phones are part of that "Hey, look at me and my nifty gadget" group, the same goes with tablets and I-Pads -- I've never held much affection for them. I think they're neat and pretty awesome from a technological stand point. I've owned a tablet which was eventually given to my brother who found better ways to put it to good use. I've spoken to many people who think that a smart phone has too many functions than is really necessary because, to them, they really only need to be able to call and receive calls; even texting is a new luxury they could care less about. While I appreciate all the quirky apps and cute little internet friendly convenience, how often do people even use a smart phone to it's full potential anyway? Just as often as people use their e-readers, maybe?
We live in an informational age filled with new technological advances; I feel like the e-reader has done what it set out to do rather than just being a pretty new electronic device for everyone to fawn over: it allows a level of convenience for people who love to read, but don't want to carry around several books to weight down their purses or back backs; especially travelers who can't afford to carry 52 actual real books in their luggage (you know, weight and size restrictions and such on a plane and all...). This is something I used to do before I got an e-reader -- I would actually carry two or three books with me wherever I went just in case I got bored and I wanted to read something, and for the sake of having at least two books to fall back on if my primary book didn't catch my attention very well. Now, I need only carry my e-reader and sometimes I even still carry one paperback that I'm interested in. My moods don't always account for my reading moods.
To a point, it's much like an mp3 player or an IPod, which are also devices created for the sake of convenience -- rather than trying to cram a million CDs into your car for a long road trip and having to switch them out often, rather than selecting specific CDs to listen to on those (now outdated) CD players while you work or hang out, you now have a nifty device that can hold upwards of hundreds and thousands of songs you can choose from in a small "nifty gadget." For people who love listening to music, these things are convenience utopia... much like for those of us who love to read, e-readers are the epitome of convenience.
I repeat once again: "To each their own."
But it does weigh heavily on me whenever E-book lovers are dismissed as just "jackasses basking in the trendiness of technological gadgetry" because we are assumed to be people who are into these new "nifty gadgets" for the technology alone and just aren't sophisticated enough to enjoy holding a "real" book in our hands and probably don't know what a paper bound tome looks like either.
So... Okay, who's being the pompous jackass now?
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