When I started my adulthood “reading frenzy” (right after I read Twilight) I couldn’t get enough of books (still can’t!), and this was back when I was in “print book” mode. Hard covers, or paper back, I went on weekly book-shopping sprees, and they started piling up! My book shelves were full, and everything and anything became a makeshift book-storage unit.
But my issues weren’t just at the increasing book-stacks. I didn’t have enough bookmarks, most of my paperbacks were riddled with little highlight-stickers everywhere. Tabs sticking out of every one of my favorite “parts” and trying to neatly stack books loaded in rainbow strips became a struggle.
And don’t even get me started on the nighttime reading-in-bed situation. I constantly needed a lamp on, and if that was too bright, a tiny book-light clip would do the trick. That is, until it would fall off, due to my overzealous book-grip, or the batteries would die, and I’d be in a panic, ’cause I wasn’t even close to ready to put my book down. Or, until I knocked myself in the face with my book, while reading… or should I say… sleep-reading. 😉
And then… the thumb cramps. Having to hold a book for hours on end, struggling to keep it open wide (especially the new books), holding it with one hand, flipping with the other. Or some sort of knee-propping, wrist supporting… and sometimes, I’d even hold the pages down with my feet, huddling over a book, just to get some wrist relief. LOL!!! Ohhhhh the body aches. Reading print books can be a full-body workout, ya know?!! 😛 Especially for muscles not often used.
But OH BOY did I love my books. NONE of that bothered me enough to ever stop reading, and even when it was suggested I move to “e-book” format, I scoffed at the idea. Oh HECK no. I’d never be able to feel like I was reading a real book. It just wouldn’t feel right. I probably wouldn’t even be able to concentrate on it. A screen was NOT a book!
And then I received my first e-reader (it was a SONY!!) LOL!! It took me just a few days and I was hooked. I could highlight passages, I could bookmark, it was light as a feather, and I could load that sucker up with as many books as I wanted, and not need any actual physical room for them. Sure… back then, my Sony e-reader wasn’t backlit, so I still needed a nifty book-light made especially for the cover (and still struggled with battery issues), but for the most part, I was a convert. And even more so when I received my first iPad shortly thereafter, and ALL of my reading woes were nil. Now I could hoard iBooks, Nook books, and Kindle books to my heart’s content. And I could read the indie freebies and all of the fan-fiction on Fictionpress. My poor paper books were abandoned. Well, not completely. They still looked so pretty on my shelves, and I still opened them to take a whiff. Ahhhhh that ink and paper smell.
And it was because of my new found love of ebooks (sure enough, they read just like a real book!!), that I discovered the world of indie (albeit MUCH smaller than we know it now). After all, many of the indie books I was finding and loving were not available in print format yet. Had it not been for my e-reader, I would not have had access to some of my absolute favorite stories EVER.
Although, I still knock myself in the face with my e-reader while I’m sleep reading. THAT hasn’t changed… *snort* 😛
Oh don’t get me wrong. I still regularly buy print books. But that’s so I can get it signed and put it on my prized signed collection shelf!!! I LOVE THEM!!!
But then, every once in awhile, I find myself reading a paper book. Usually it’s an ARC (advanced review copy), and I want to read the book SO DARN BAD that I just… I go “old school”. Tee hee!!! Like that one up there to the left (One True Loves: A Novel).
P.S. My review (and video!!) for it is coming soon…
P.P.S. If ALL of my e-books suddenly turned into print books, I really WOULD be a case for a “hoarders” episode. LOL!! I LOVE that meme, because it’s so true. *snort*
Maryse: I’m reading a paper book. It feels weird… and organic. I kinda like it! 😀
Karen: Doesn’t happen too often any more, but I LOVE reading a REAL book!!
Jenny: I rarely read paperback, however, when I do I try to “swipe” at least once when I need a page turned. I smack my head every single time 😛 !!!!!!
Maryse: LOL Jenny… I just looked down to see what percentage I was at. *snort* 😛
Dani: bahahahaha
Jenny: LOL!! I also push on words for definitions, do you do that too??
Maryse: Jenny Heck yes!!! Highlighting is my problem. I want to highlight passages and my finger produces NOTHING on paper!!!! *gasp*!!!
Suanne: And touching it to highlight 🙂
Maryse: EXACTLY!!!!!! My fingers produce NOTHING on paper. The horror!! My magic fingers are gone!
Suanne: Why isn’t this taking me to Wikipedia?!
Maryse: EXACTLY!!!!!! Even more then definitions, I want Wikipedia historical documents!!! 😀
Suanne: And maps. And pictures. Why do our books not have pictures?
Krystal: I now only buy my favorite author’s books. Ones that I know I will reread again and again.
Maryse: My prized signed collection!!!
Krystal: Especially that !
Saleen: Paperbacks and Hardcovers are good, beacause they have no battery life and no need for charging it up
Emily: Love this!
Maryse: True! Except for the lighting issues at 2am
Lisa: I can’t remember the last time I did that!! The print would be way too small!!!
Amber: I found out on paper books the pages do not turn when you touch the corner either
Maryse: LOL!!!! Annoying thing that is!
Amber: Very! Especially when you sit there waiting for it like come on. Lol Smh
Mbk: You rebel!
Maryse: I feel it. I can actually SMELL the book!!!
Career: Me too. Finally tackling Vampire Academy. Got them from the library. My kindle is collecting dust.
Tessa: Ooh! I loved that series! I hope you do too.
Career: Tessa on the third book, my eyes are killing me, can’t put it down! Lol
Maryse: One of my favorite series ever!!! Great choice!
Tessa: Me too! My big thing is when there’s a word I’m unsure of the meaning, I can’t tap on it to confirm.
Maryse: *snort* 😛
Monica: I love my books… will read electronic only when I have too 🙂
Royal: Lisa It takes me longer to read a book than an ebook. I prefer ebooks, but occasionally when I only can get it as a book, I’ll read it that way.
Holly: I read kindle books 95% of the time but I always buy a couple of paperback books to read on holiday and love it!
Leslie: Yay for paper!
JM: I prefer ebooks. My first reader was a Sony too! And I’ve brusied my nose from sleep reading. 😉 lol
Katherine: I’m the odd one out usually. I like ebooks. Mostly because I’m a speedreader and I need to be able to pick up the next book on a whim and go.
Becky: I don’t know when the last time was that I actually read a paper book. I love the idea that I have my entire library on my iPad. I can go back and read anything that I want whenever I want.
Lauren: I’m the same way. I have the Kindle, Nook, iBooks, & GooglePlay Books apps on my iPad & I have books on all of them….my mom is bad about giving useless gift cards….GooglePlay card to someone with an iPhone, iTunes card to someone with a Samsung Galaxy….etc. But I use ALL of the unwanted gift cards in my house.
Lauren: Ebooks. I still have hundreds of paperbacks & hardcovers but they’re just collecting dust on the bookshelves. I haven’t gotten the courage to donate them yet but I will at some point. My son, who is the only one of my kids that enjoys reading, still reads paper books even though he has a Kindle. He’s 11yrs old & reads Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Hollowland,….he has great taste in books. He says he’d rather read paper books because he “likes the way they smell”.
Vicki: Ebooks i can keep them all in one place
Johanne: I thought I would not like reading on a device so I did not buy one. But the universe knew otherwise and I won a Kindle Paper White. Was hooked from the first book! Isn’t great to have access to your complete library all the time ? 😀
Lindsay: Because I can find so many ebooks for free or 99 cents, I hoard them more and am less likely to read them because they get hidden in my Kindle. Paperbacks I can see multiplying and am more likely to read, but a book is a book. I’ll take either!
Dianna: My paper white. I love it. I can read anywhere and always have thousands of books on hand. I do have a “real” collection of hardcover sets and signed paperbacks that I keep for show though.
Megan: Ebooks. All the way!
Sadie: If you had asked me two or three years ago EBook for sure. But now Paperback/hard cover except for highlighting, which makes me kind of crazy that I have to deface the book if I want to highlight a quote. But these days I am online all day for work and stuff so it’s nice to have a screen break. I saw these on modern mrs Darcy (to mark pages)
Melissa: Both, eBooks are a bit easier, especially at night, when I’m up at 2am.
Rebecca: I loved reading some paperbacks last year, like old-school, with reading light and all (:P), until the birth of my last baby, who reacts to just the rustle of paper to think, Ah, new toy!! So the convenience of ebooks it is for a while longer 😀
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This thing is so cool (Amazon calls it “
