I went out today with the intention of buying a kindle touch. The words marched, business-like, across the grey, monochromatic, matte screen. I tried very hard to get excited, flipping pretend pages, and changing font sizes. Yes, I know all the arguments for convenience and functionality (Get books in 60 seconds! less than 6 ounces! Fits in your pocket! Holds 1,400 books!) but I still came out empty-handed. Then promptly spent the rest of the afternoon at bookshops, fondling clothbound Coralie Bickford-Smith covers, creepily sniffing deckle-edged pages, and reverently turning the pages of overly-large coffee table art books with two hands. Maybe I'll change my mind later on but I hold the process of reading books on an irrational, romantic, sentimental, idealistic pedestal. Reading isn't just about words on a page; it's how the paper feels underneath your hands, the smell of old pages and new glue binding, illustrations on covers, and how battered and worn a particular favourite can become. Its a world beyond a mere medium in which information is conveyed; it is its own tactile, microcosmic world.
SWIIIINGS!
ReplyDeleteThis 'argument' has been made so many times before but how you managed to express your thoughts like this, is beyond me, really, just so romantic and ahhhhhh-beautiful!
But I don't think you CAN'T have it both ways, especially with the price of e-readers at an all-time low. Think you should get the Kobo though, it has a fantastic dictionary and translator and the best UI of all the e-readers. True story. Also, the plus side of an e-reader: no need to be embarrassed about bad covers like these: http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/heads-shoulders-knees-toes-and-shoes. ;P
ReplyDeleteRead books on a Kobo, then buy the ones you LOVE in first editions and hard covers, that's what I do.
I think Coralie Bickford-Smith should design ALL book covers. Her work is classy. Penguin was clever enough to hire her to continue Jan Tschichold's work!
Tumblr-ing this, if you don't mind? :D
A from A + B in the Sea
I do love leafing through books, though I don't need to own them. I love getting them out of the library, the idea that loads of other people have read them too. I'm not sold on the need for an e reader yet. I was considering getting one for my five months in Brussles, but I chose to bring real books with me in the end. I took 6 of them with me and i will carry them back to scotland one by one as I finish them.
ReplyDeleteThe smell of books/paper is irreplaceable. Will choose these over any new technology!
ReplyDeleteThe photos are ever so lovely <33 I hope you are enjoying Spring!
Beautiful photos Ana and I know what you mean about books. I'm in the middle of reading a book a good friend gave me for Christmas, and I'm enamored with it's small illustrations, it's scent and the fact that my friend read it and went to the trouble of buying it for me also. There's no way a digital version of it could hold as much.
ReplyDeletei feel the same way. my husband has a nook and loves it, but i just felt weird reading it. i just love the feel of a book in my hands!
ReplyDeleteYou've hit the nail so eloquently on the head. Again. My mother and I have this conversation often. We both love the feel of books too much. I helped my grandmother set up the Kindle she received for Christmas and, while I'll admit it's a nifty little gadget, I'm just not ready to go there yet. I believe my heart will always belong to books of yore.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Please tell Rob these photos are exceptional.
I can't get used to it too. I agree with everything you said. It also feels very uncorfortable to hold them... My husband has a tablet and I can't seem to like it too...
ReplyDeletePrecious, as always.
ReplyDeletexxx
awwhh, these are some of my favorite photos of yours! that rob is something else. and i have a kindle, but i still love my books! never gonna stop building my physical library.
ReplyDeleted'aw! Ana among the giant hydrangeas(?)!!!
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