Kindle or Real Paper

Veering off my normal topics, in need of some light and fluffy this morning, I thought I’d write about books and how we choose to read them.

A couple of years ago, I bought my first Kindle. Books tend to be cheaper on Kindle and I liked the idea of printing less paper in the world, and I also liked the idea of collecting more books in cyber-space and fewer on my shelves. I began to read a lot on my Kindle and upgraded when the newer version came out – I have terrible eyesight and so anything with a better contrast is good for me to invest in. And then last year, for Mother’s Day, Rodrigo bought me an iPad, which I absolutely love. I use it all the time.

I come from a family of readers. Most of the people in my family inhale, and devour literature. After moving to Chile, where books and libraries are scarce – that’s been my hardest hit. I miss Barnes and Nobles and Third Place Books and the local library more than anything else. Truly. Besides the people of course … but even that’s pushing it. I would do just about anything to sit in Barnes and Nobles with a cup of good coffee and read and read and read – and run my finger over the pages of the books and smell them and take in their texture… this brings me to my point.

A couple of months ago, I wrote on my blog that I learned how to check out books from the library on my iPad and it changed my world. It did. My kids check out books on their mini-iPads and I check out books and I love it. However, there’s been something missing in my experience and it’s been hard to put my finger on, until the other day someone came over with about five books and dropped them off for me to read. Real Pages, the real smell of a book, the feel of turning them over in my hand and putting a real bookmark in it, and toting it with me wherever I go. That’s what I’ve been missing!

All my life, I’ve carried around my books like best friends. Whatever it is I’m reading – it goes with me everywhere. My current book goes under my arm and gets shoved into my purse, gets coffee stains and tear stains, crinkled and smudged, and ends up becoming a part of my life. I remember my life and what was going on in it by remembering the book I was reading at that time – and when I hold up a book, it immediately takes me back to that particular season in my life and what I was doing when I read it.

No matter how hard I try – Kindles and iPads aren’t the same. They don’t generate the same experience – and reading is an experience. A very personal one, actually. I love my Kindle and my iPad and will continue to read books on them, but I’ve had to accept that my experience is different. So much so, that I’ve taken up reading in Spanish just so I can hold a book in my hands and carry it around like my new best friend.

I realized that real books, with real paper – are far more important to me than I wanted to admit. I realized this when I was willing to wade through pages of a book in Spanish with a little Spanish/English dictionary next to me because I liked the texture of the pages and I wanted a book I could hold. Poor Rodrigo is having to help me with vocabulary words and hidden meanings, nuances of his language he hasn’t had to think about in years … simply because I like paper and I like the feel of a book in my hands.

I’d tell anyone that Kindle and iPads are great and I promote reading on a Kindle… but I’d also say, there’s nothing like grabbing hold of a book, opening the first page, running your fingers over it, breathing in its smell, and reading the first few words. I can tell if I’m going to like a book by the paper and the weight, by the texture – it’s one of my favorite experiences in the world.

How have you incorporated Kindles, Nooks, iPads into your life? Do you think paper books are on their way out and how will that change our children’s experience with literature?

Talk to me … I’d love to hear about your literary lives.

Much Love,

Tina