eReaders

eReaders seem to be a sensitive subject amongst book lovers. Those who abandon their beloved bookshelves and page sniffing are ridiculed, and those who abandon kindles and sony eReaders are praised. Or that's how it seems to me. Of course the eReader is just a matter of personal choice and opinion.

Christmas 2010 I was awarded with an amazon Kindle. My weekly allowance was being spent on books (coffee too) and my parents were sick of me buying classics that are free online. So I tried it out. I read Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu using my amazon kindle (I'll post a review later) and I hated it with a passion. There was a lack of physicality to the book, the lack of cover art made me uncomfortable, and the thinness of it made it strange to hold. Call me a traditionalist but holding a book and wandering through book shops is a big part of my life, so the kindle just wasn't for me. 

It's also not ideal for a child as the internet access means it's not allowed in school so I had to carry another book to school when I was getting into Carmilla, which annoyed me slightly. 

So after a few months of it gathering dust under a pile of real books my father asked to use it and he has had it ever since. It now belongs to him and he got me a larger book case (spoilt, aren't I?), but my parents still pressure me to buy eBooks every other week to save some money for Uni. And though I can see their point I don't see having an eBook as owning a book and would just have to buy the eBooks physical copies as I did when I owned the kindle myself.

My English teacher I'm aware does own a kindle (discussed at parents evening after I'd made what I thought was an impressive speech about hating eReaders, needless to say my English Language mock exams didn't go well) and she loves it. And I can see why she does love it of course. Of course they're practical for book lovers with busy lifestyles who don't always have the time to waste a Saturday wandering through Waterstones, or for those who can't waste money on books for a long term investment eReader users will actually save a fortune. The same concept applies to students, textbooks can be brought or downloaded for a lot cheaper than physical books, which saves time, money, and space! 

I've made a rule for myself not to dismiss anyone who owns an eReader as a fool, because it's prejudiced. Reading is a different experience for everyone and it isn't up to others to judge something as personal as loving books.