I've been working on a post about Alice In Wonderland (my favorite story of all time) for a bit to post for you. Since it's unfinished I thought I would post an honest bookworm's thoughts of the e-reader vs book debate.
I've had a lifelong love of books, I blame my parents for that. When I was a little kid growing up in Brooklyn we had almost weekly trips to our local library. To this day I can remember it! The gleam of the tile floors as you enter the building, the way your shoes clicked and squeeked as you walked over them to the stairs. The sound of us pounding the steel steps on the way up to the children's floor because, well why on Earth would we walk NORMALLY over such fabulous noise makers? Most of all I remember the smell, you know what I mean, the rich Earthy smell of hundreds of books of various ages, lined up on wooden shelves. It is such a wonderful smell. Then there was the feel of the books. The texture of the old pages, the slickness of the new ones. There is nothing like having a book in your hands.
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| Me & my Baby w a new book! |
This mad love of that place, that smell, those textures followed me into adulthood. Naturally I've been passing that on to my children. My son, who is 8, used to LOVE to sit and read with me. Since he now is required to do it for school, his love of books is somewhat diminished. I remember that phase, it will pass. Right? Right?! My two little girls also really love books, even if we aren't the ones reading to them. So now that books are so rampantly available on electronic readers, what's a book worm to do? How do we make the next generation understand the excitement that comes with getting a new book in our hands? Where does the love of the actual written page go?
But I digress. Here is a link to a good review site of the many different kinds of e-readers (here). I myself was hesitant to get an e-reader, I'm not one to jump on the bandwagon of just anything, especially electronics when they get "updated" so often. However last year I got my darlin Hubby a Kindle for Christmas. I wasn't sure on this since he, like me, is a big book person. He loves it though! Granted we didn't run out and toss all the books in our house but we did go through and make a few piles of books where the actual book itself is sentimentally preferred over an electronic version of it. The rest got donated to our local library.
Each of our kids has a three-shelf book shelf in their room, all overflowing with books. We plan on keeping it that way. Children need the joy of reading a book, with pages to turn & the whole bit. That's is our stance on it and you can't convince either of us to change it. Go ahead and try... Eventually we will get an e-reader device of some kind of course for the kids, as they age and get into the real good stuff. For now they can have books, and the messes that accompany them.
I myself have an e-reader on my cell phone. I just finished my first book on it too. I just read "First Grave on the Right", as suggested by the Fabulous Cait. (Link to Author Here) I loved it, the book & the reader on my phone! I don't get long breaks at work so it was convient to have the reader on there. I loved how easy it was to just grab and go, the reader keeps my place. Which I LOVE. I'm notorious for losing bookmarks & so I would then bend the page of the book...gasp!
So now that I've experienced the joy & convienience of the e-reader, I'm hooked. They are so handy to have, and there is no heavy pile of books to take on vacation or clean up. Don't get me wrong, I will still own books, actual paper containing books but....I love my e-reader...shhhh don't tell my books.
So do you have a reader? What kind? Which do you prefer, the book or the reader? Sound off in the comments & I'll see ya on the next pixellated page!!
