Printed book or eBook? For me there is no comparison, no choice to be made. I’ve never bought an eBook ( despite being able to get Ebooks from 99p at WHSmith using this deal) and solemnly vowed on an old bound edition of The Hobbit never to. Call me old fashioned but there’s something about actually holding a book in my hands, flicking through the pages, smelling the book that cannot be replaced by the likes of a Kindle. I don’t consider myself a ‘writer’, I host no ideas of grandeur about my blog being a vast creative platform to showcase my literary talents, there are some truly gifted writers out there blogging and I bow before them gimpishly. But even so when I sit down on the sofa and look across at the hundreds of books sat on the shelves of the bookcase I cannot help be inspired. Besides Kindles are the fricking DEVIL.
I may not feel the need to carry 60 books at once in the palm of my hand but I do feel the need to write a short list of the things that one can do with a printed book that one can’t with an eBook:
Prop up a wonky bookcase.
We’ve all done it, moved house, positioned a bookcase or chest of drawers just where we want it only to find the wonky floorboards mean the whole ruddy thing wobbles. Such times call for thin Ladybird books.
Squash a wasp.
I know, I know, where’s my humanity? The bastards sting. I can’t help it, if a wasp it too stupid to fly out of a window then it’s going down. End of.
Printed books make great camera stands.
If you want to take a video of something but sitting the camera on the table isn’t high enough, if you want to take a photo but your hands are too shakey… a small tower of books works wonders. And it’s cheap. How many Kindles do you think you’d need to pile up in order to get the height of 10 books? Ey? EY?
Showing off on public transport.
Poser? Want to make the opposite sex think that you are cultured? Sit on the train reading a book – not Harry Potter you understand, in my experience nothing looks cooler than someone sitting nonchalantly sipping a coffee reading one of the classics / something cool / something in another language. The book you carry on public transport is not just a read, it’s a statement, rightly or wrongly it says something about you.
Wake up and smell the book.
Old and new they all have a certain smell.
Sit on a train, open a book and smell it and you’ll get a mixture of looks that range between ‘Ah yes that smell, I recall that smell’ and ‘how queer’.
Sit on a train and sniff a kindle and you’ll be greeted by people moving seats to get further away from the freak (that’s you, Kindle sniffer).
To summarise, sitting in public sniffing a Kindle is one step away from sitting in public sniffing your own fingers. And that’s plain WRONG.
Togetherness.
This one’s for all you lovers out there. Old romantic fools. Lovers of reading. Many an hour BC (before children), did Papapsaurus and I sit reading a book together. In years to come you’ll remember that book you read together and every time you see a copy it will make your heart flutter. Would you heart skip a beat if you saw a Kindle? Meh. Exactly.
Giving books as gifts.
You want to give a friend a book for their birthday. You know they have a Kindle. Do you opt for an eBook? No! (ok so many of you will be shaking your head in disagreement on this one). A printed book you can wrap up and hand over, it’s weighty, it’s solid, it’s real.
Surely the best bit of giving someone a book as a gift, apart from all that ‘it’s the feelgood gift of giving nonsense’, is the writing of a message inside the cover. Write a personal message to your friend inside the cover of a book and you have made that book a truly special gift and become a thoughtful friend. Etch your message on the back of their kindle and you won’t be popular you’ll be on the receiving end of some feral rantings.
And notes written inside books live on, post the lifespan of the book’s owner. Strangers in years to come may read the message you penned in a book, it may make them smile, cry or just wonder what on earth you were on when you thought writing a limerick was a good idea.
Here’s a really short note written inside a printed book, Through the Looking Glass, that my dad wrote to me when he gave me the book for my 6th birthday. He passes away a number of years ago now so I don’t need to tell you why this short note means so much to me.
It’ll be an icy day in Hades before I download any book but I fear I may be in the minority in my opinions. And so instead of trying to lead a revolution inciting people to drown their Kindles in the bath I’m going to opt for the terribly polite and British mannerism and apologise for my loathing of eBooks and ask you how important do you think it is to keep the printed book in your life?
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I'm Annie and I live in the depths of the New Forest. Mother to many, wife to one, blogger, creative type, lover of real books and a bit of a lush.
I would have agreed with this a few years ago, but since getting my Kindle I prefer the convenience of ebooks.
Ereaders are guff for reading technical books that you’ll need to keep flicking back to, though.
Michael Cargill recently posted..Justin Bieber’s diary
Come ‘ere Cargill and let me thwack your arse with an extra heavy copy of War and Peace!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
I am all for the proper book, I do have 1 full version of a book on iPad, downloaded via a blogger and when I get credit I will down load another, but the first one has taken me an age to read 4 pages, not because it’s not written well but the subject matter and the fact it’s not a ‘book’ doesn’t help x
cakesphotoslife (Angie) recently posted..A Memory Jar (easy craft for kids)
I think my mind is conditioned to read printed books after a thirty seven years of reading. To change now for the sake of a convenience that I’ve never needed seems pointless to me.
I don’t think my brain could cope with the change, it may implode!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
YES! YES! YES!
p.s. lovely stack you got there, full of treats!
Sonya Cisco recently posted..Look at the stars….
*Whoop Whoop!*
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
There is very little more important to me than the books in my house! My children maybe – but that’s about it! I love the smell of books and have been thrown out of the library many times for doing just that!
Books have a soul – particularly if it is well loved old edition, you can’t have that on a kindle!!
I was given a kobo ereader by a friend and I have tried but can’t get to grips with it – just doesn’t seem right some how and old classics that I have read many times and loved seem boring and not worthy of reading on this thing! So it’s turned on for FB and twitter only – and maybe a cheeky game of solitaire in the bath !
I’m with you love! books always!!!
Mary recently posted..What do I have in common with these lovely ladies?
Huzzah! Team Printed Book! *fist bumps*
I can read blogs till my hearts content online but the thought of reading one thing for longer periods of time on a screen just makes the muscles in my neck tense up!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
Another post and another lovely new look. If you’re available on Kindle then you would be wasted there! I’m all for printed books but I’ve got rid of so many because of storage and I regret that – especially cookery books and that wouldn’t have to happen on Kindle, but you can’t have a peruse and pick up and flick through, can you? Am not so sure about the smelling malarchy.
Anya from Older Single Mum recently posted..Social Pix #1
Books for children on paper forever, please!
Books to stroke, dribble on, fall asleep squashed up against, drag around everywhere, surreptitiously scribble in…
then put in the attic for the next generation.
Clara recently posted..introducing Bubble and Squeak!
That’s just the loveliest thing I have read in a long time Clara x
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
Love this. I wrote a post a while back about the beauty of books, but I get everything you’ve said, too (except the reading a book with someone else – totally unable to do that, well, except reading to children, of course).
In case you want to read it: http://www.wahm-bam.org/2011/10/a-renaissance-in-book-cover-art/
Tasha Goddard recently posted..Happy New Year
Ooo cheers Tasha – off to have a gander!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
Did you see about this bookless school – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20930195 made me feel a bit sad inside (then wondered if I’m just old or really romantic!)
Not old, probably romantic and totally right! How sad to be in a bookless school :O
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
And do you know what Annie Spratt, you are a good writer because I often think about – and keep meaning to ask you – about that book you gave us the first bit of – about that boy who shared a flat and taking a phone call and giving a load of funny spiel unknowingly to his mother (was it Edward?), so please get on with it and let us have more.
Anya from Older Single Mum recently posted..Social Pix #1
Erm, if you don’t have a Kindle (other e-readers are available) then you can’t download my book wot I wrote. So, I have to stick one leg in the Kindle camp I’m afraid. I love my Kindle. I also love my books. It’s OK to love both, right? There’s room for both progress and sentimentality in my life
Go on, try it. You might like it.
(BUY MY BOOK)
motherventing recently posted..Happy New Year
Oh my goodness, thank The Lord I’m not alone. I hate ebooks and everything they stand for. Why would anyone need hundreds of books at one time? The whole point of reading is to get absorbed in it. I think it’s a sad reflection of a society that flits between things too much.
I adore books (and have definitely been known to choose especially classy and intellectual looking books for train journeys) and, like you, cannot see myself ever feeling even the slightest interest in having a kindle. Real books have something about them, their permanence perhaps which makes them so special.
And I am totally a book sniffer…… Isn’t everyone?
X
Lucy at Dear Beautiful recently posted..new {see it snap it love it}
Phew I knew I wasn’t totally alone on this Lucy! I agree with what you say about society flitting between things too easily. I appreciate I risk sounding like and oldie but the whole ‘now’ culture does my swede in.
Same with downloading music – which is a rant for later in the week me thinks!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
Hehe. I feel the same about music too. My husband thinks I’m barmy that I still buy CDs. But I just love the whole experience of the CD cover (and the little booklet with pictures and *sometimes* song lyrics).
I think I might be one of those people who just likes to have physical THINGS in my actual hands….. which is pretty funny for a blogger when we’re all about the digital. Really we should take up scrap booking…. or not!
And while we’re at it. I feel the same about photos. Although I’m a bit naughty with that one and have thousands lurking on the computer. But I really like the real and tactile nature of actual photographs. I love nothing better than a rifle through old photos and it makes me a bit sad that my children won’t get to experience it in quite the same way. They are a generation where only the best and most polished photos ever see the light of day, but the bad ones are the ones I like best from my childhood.
X
Lucy at Dear Beautiful recently posted..a second birth story – part one
Well I must say I am a lover of both! I realised how much easier it is to read from a kindle whilst sleeping baby in the other arm. They are convenient in many ways. I agree I would never give up buying actual books. Love my bookshelves full to the brim of allsorts including that Nick Cave book you have there. He is some kind of god that man!
Oh Nick Cave is a sexual god… have you read And the Ass saw the Angel?
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
I too am a lover of both.
The kindle is super convenient, I can read anywhere, anytime. It’s light and I don’t have to physically turn pages.
Physical books are special in a different way, like you say they are special and can be written in. I bought the hubby a signed Michael Crichton book recently.
Morgan x
Morgan Prince recently posted..New Year, New Goals
I do see why people find them convenient but what can I say, I’m an old fashioned gal and would rather plump for the satisfaction of reading a printed book over convenience any day!
Thanks for commenting x
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
I have to say I’m old fashioned when it comes to holding a lovely book between my palms – and I love the artwork on the front cover…. Although I can imagine succumbing to a Kindle. Anyway I love your new look blog – you are so very creative, and what’s all this gubbins you don’t consider yourself a writer – PAH to that! X.
Oh yes of course, the front covers! How could I miss those out?
Books are such tactile and beautiful things and I find kindles and the like all a bit, well, impersonal.
And thanks for the lovely comment, I wasn’t going to change the blogs look but the theme I was using had a couple of glitches on an update and I didn’t fancy risking muffing the whole blog up so I had an emergency late night blog theme swapping session!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
I am with you! Nothing beats a REAL book. I’ve tried an ebook but just can’t concentrate on the story, for some reason it’s not as absorbing or comforting as proper book.
Butwhymummywhy recently posted..This week’s favourite photo
Interesting – I’ll be honest I just can’t imagine it could be the same!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
I am a recent convert, having been totally in agreement with you last year. I do love the writing in books, – I write little notes to the kids in their books if I read them on my own (who know David Walliams could write children’s books??? Thank the lord my children are old enough to read something interesting)!
But lugging books around is so tedious that I invariably forget, then I’m stuck. Whereas my kindle lives in my bag – job done!
Actually Mummy… recently posted..Shopping lists: Wot so Funee?
Ah yes I spotted you were given a Kindle for your birthday!
I rarely have to take more than one book anywhere for myself and as for kindles in bags… watch out, one bottles of water with the lid on a bit loose and fizz pop kindle stop!
At least you can sit a damp book on a radiator
Oh you cannot convert me oh hairy one!
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
Paper books get my vote! I can see there are advantages for e-books (for example Granny is mega excited at the ipad mini we won for her and one of the reasons is that she won’t have to lug a load of travel guides with her when she goes away later this year) – but having said that she has done all her research with paper books beforehand. I can also see the advantages of being able to access books all the time so I can see the appeal but my favourite books are childrens books and I just can’t imagine reading any of those electronically – it just wouldn’t be right and would strip away the enjoyment of sharing a book with my children. My fear is that if it became so much the norm for books to become e-books then eventually more and more kids books would too and that would be heart-breaking.
The Beesley Buzz recently posted..A mellow Monday
I totally agree with you – children’s books as e-books would be so sad! I do wonder how much reading in schools will change over the next ten years though :/
Mammasaurus recently posted..Viva la Phyiscal Format! The printed book forever
You are a fricking FANTABULOUS writer dude.
And as dirty as it makes me feel and a total hypocrite, I do love my Kindle… What man? I can change the font size so it don’t hurt me eyes! But I also love my books…
*runs away and scrubs self in the shower*
BTW, the last pic made me melt a bit, little Annie!
MummyNeverSleeps recently posted..No Man’s Land
I’m with you on this one. My house is filled with books. And your tip about using them as a camera tripod is spot on! Of course, I would never swat a wasp with a book ever; they are however excellent for the emergency squishing of spiders (a last resort I hasten to add and only for the big, fast b*ggers!)
Laura @ Chez Mummy recently posted..2013 and the wind of change
I woke up thinking of a list of books that changed my life this morning, my Dad’s copy of 1984, my Mum’s copy of the Bell Jar. I really want to pass them onto my kids, not just the love of reading, but the love of the books. I love that sense of passing something down the family line, you don’t get that with a Kindle.
That would be a good meme Penny
‘What books would you pass to your children?’ xx
Emma @mummymummymum recently posted..Not all cakes and play dough
I am with you on this one oh Saurus. I just love curling up and holding a book. THere is something about physically turning a page that I just love.
Mummy Barrow recently posted..How we sleep
I was ironically standing in a second hand book store looking for a book and thinking why would anyone give their books away? I went to New Zealand and books there were uber expensive so I made good use of the local libraries. I now actually have a list of the books I need to buy so that I can have my own personal copy. I guess that is what books of the physical kind mean to me. I also wrote this http://brinabird.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/but-i-love-books-of-physical-kind.html .
Brinabird and Son recently posted..What is age appropriate?
I am soo with you on this. My husband loves his kindle, but I will only read an actual book!
Emma @mummymummymum recently posted..Not all cakes and play dough
Totally!! Who needs more screen time?? I recently talked my nine year old daughter out of a Kindle for Christmas and when she came home from school on the first day back she said how pleased she was that she didn’t get it. When asked why she said that “everyone” got a Kindle for Christmas… and now they’re passe. We agreed that her cool, creative camera is much more inspired.
I do have two VERY full bookcases and do love the feel of a book in my hand, and love looking at the cover. Sad thing about kindle is that when you buy the book it takes you straight to the 1st page. You quite literally have to press back back back if you want to see the contents page, the dedication, the cover, etc… etc…
BUT as much as I loved books they were taking up so much space I would have had to have started charging them rent.
So sadly, I am a firm Kindle user. What am I talking about, I am very wobbly. Scrap that, I am an avid Kindle user.
It is very very handy when you go on holiday as Ryan Air don’t let you pack much.
Great post though,
Liska xx
Liska recently posted..21st December 2012… What Now? We are now in the age of AQUARIUS…
I used to be a book girl. Then I got an “alternative” (*cough* sony) e-reader and thought it was the best thing ever. After two months I realised I was right the first time. Definitely a real book person.
It’s just not the same and I actually found myself just buying proper books to take on holiday instead. It’s “broken” at the moment and am not quite sure yet how to tell my other half (who bought it for me) not to bother getting it fixed.
Absolutely no need to convince me….I’m sold on the real thing! I have no desire to ever purchase a kindle and am with you on all the reasons above….except perhaps the smell – old books really do smell gross! Thanks for linking up to Oldies but Goodies.
Suzanne recently posted..Oldies but Goodies – Week 10
I’m also with you on this. I thought I was one of the few print book lovers left.
I will admit that e-books have their place and are a great platform for aspiring writers to launch from, but lets face it you can’t beat a proper book.
I love that my cookery books have splats on them (I’d freak out if I did that to a kindle or my smart phone), I love that my children can reach the top shelf by standing on some heavy tomes, definitely good as a wasp squasher, and they smell good!
I agree with everything you’re saying about books and was very loathe to convert when my husband bought me a Kindle a couple of years ago, but I’ve since discovered that little hands can’t tear a Kindle (and I can literally shed tears over books being damaged).
Also, holiday reading is MUCH easier with a Kindle (even though I feel like a traitor saying it!)
Great post. Have a good weekend.
Distressed Housewife recently posted..Reassure-A-Mum
Books all the way for me too, although dare I say having an ebook on a tablet when traveling could be useful! x
Sarah Hill recently posted..Warning – May Light Fires, Abscond and Steal
With you on the books – up to and including Daren King and Dan Rhodes. I feel the same way about vinyl – less smelling and more listening, though.
hattydaze recently posted..Silent Sunday
I love actual books. I will never ever ever own a Kindle. I love the smell of books, the feel of books. I love cover art. I love the excitement of a book arriving the post, I love perusing books in a shop or library. So yeah, I love books. I will never go to the dark side. x
I’d love to own a Kindle, mainly because the pile of paperbacks I take on holiday always eats into my baggage allowance so much that I end up hardly end up with anything to wear. But it would have to be AS WELL AS my real books, not instead of them. And not just because I’m a dedicated book sniffer. It’snot just the smell, it’s the look, the feel, the texture and the dog eared bits of paper and flower petals that fall out of them. Let’s face it, you can’t press a rose in an ebook, can you?
Oh I love this post! Paper all the way for me.
I read in the bath, I gaze adoringly at beautiful covers, prop open doors, and lovingly release wasps by catching them in a cup and sliding a book over the top to keep the f*ckers in it…
…I love to look at bookshelves in people’s houses and comment on similar or differing tastes. In fact, the picture you showed included TWO of my favourite books – Norwegian Wood and Vernon God Little – and the biography on Nick Cave, though I don’t own it, made me smile. I love his music. In my own book I refer to a musician at one point. I don’t name him. But it’s Nick Cave.
Also, the most exciting moment of publishing a book so far has been seeing the thing on the shelves of a real life bookshop. The Amazon Kindle page pales in comparison.
Lovely post and, as you say, Long Live the Paper Book!
This, this, a million times this. We are so very sad just now because nearly all our physical books are in storage – about 50 enormous bloody boxes of them – until we live in a house with space for them again. Ohhh, how I miss them. But I’ve not turned to e-books. No, no, no. Have just started to create a second oversized book collection instead. There are piles of them taking over the house. The saddest thing about new-build houses is that they don’t have built in bookshelves like old houses too. For me, a house is not a home until there are shelves creaking under the weight of books.
Lovely post, missus. Just lovely. xx
Ruth recently posted..Things We Love
Thanks. you’ve just saved me from making a stupid mistake and buying a kindle. What was I thinking of?