Thursday, January 27, 2011

There's always space for one more


One of my friends has switched to an e-reader because her bookshelves were overflowing. That came to mind after I finished the new-ish Discworld romp (not technically new because I waited a year for the paperback edition so that it could match the other Terry Prachett paperbacks on my shelf) and tried to find a space for it.

So yes, I can understand why people switch to e-books. But no, I don't think I will anytime soon. It's not just missing the old school feeling of turning an actual page. An e-book doesn't give me the satisfaction of putting it away on a shelf of "matching" books, and the delight of adding yet another book to an overcrowded shelf. I suppose it has something to do with hoarding. You get this delicious feeling of having expanded the collection that grew slowly over the years, one book a year (or however fast Prachett is writing -- long may he live).

1 comment:

The Cat's Whiskers said...

Yes, and how would TP be able to autograph an e-copy of his book? I have signed copies of most of his books and I wouldn't give them up for a gold-plated Kindle. Plus I bet that you're like me, sometimes you skim two pages at once, looking to see if it's worth reading, and you can't do that with an e-reader. Plus you can't easily flip back and forth to find a scene that you want to read. Plus, you can't lend a book on an e-reader.