I never wanted an e-reader.
During my 10+ year career at Borders, we tried to move into the e-reader market, unsuccessfully for the most part. Amazon, of course, cornered the market, with Barnes & Noble another big player. In fact, the rise of e-readers sold elsewhere was a big contributor to me losing my job and Borders – to whom I always remained loyal – eventually closing for good last year.
I never wanted an e-reader.
To get one would have been contributing to Borders’ downfall, and besides, I really didn’t want one – I love physical books so much, and couldn’t imagine liking an e-reader. And besides, you can’t really read one when you’re taking a nice long bubble bath, can you?
I never wanted an e-reader.
But I got one.
Tim got me a Kindle Touch for Christmas. Adam knew he had gotten it, and one day at lunch, Adam said to me, “Mom, would you ever want a Kindle?” I replied, “I NEVER want an e-reader of any kind!.” Oops – I could tell by the look on Adam’s face that Tim had gotten me just that for Christmas.
The day we before we were planning to exchange Christmas presents, Tim confirmed that he had gotten me a Kindle and said that if I didn’t want it, he’d take it back and not even give it to me.
I thought about it and said, “What the heck. I’ll give it a whirl!”
And guess what? By the end of the day, I loved it! I’ve been reading more since I got the Kindle than I have in ages. And Adam loves it, too – he borrows it most nights at bedtime and falls asleep reading it. (I predict a Kindle of his own at some point in the future, depending on how his grades go.)
Thank goodness our library participates in an e-book service. It’s waaaay to easy to purchase a book while sitting on the couch and literally be able to read it instantly! Way too tempting.
E-books are handy there is no denying it. When I first got a kindle I was hooked, but slowly I went back to physical books.
I’m toying with the idea of a Kindle Fire. I admit it. I love physical books, but the thought of actually CARRYING 11/22/63 is scaring me. And I’m hopelessly attracted to the iPad, which I don’t have yet, so I think the Fire might be my next big purchase.
But I know how you feel. There’s something sad about this.
PS I’m “Anonymous” above. I didn’t mean to hit send quite so quickly.
When one of the later Harry Potter books came out, my older son (about 50 lbs at the time) complained of chest pain. We were on vacation and I got a bit freaked. Until I realized that he had spent all afternoon on his back with the book resting on his chest. Chest pain? Book bruise. I guess a kindle would solve that.
Same if you travel a lot. What a help to take that slim little thing instead of even one book.
Still, I like the way I can read a book even after I’ve dropped it and spilled my coffee all over it. And eyeballs don’t get replaced with new technology formats every couple of years.
Enjoy it! I suspect that the college bookstore will look a lot different, the next time we find ourselves in one.
I got touchpad in September. A month later I discovered the world of ebooks from the local library. I fell…, hook, line and sinker. I remember telling friends I wouldn’t like it (back at xmas 2010 when they got nooks and kindles). I thought I would remain loyal to the actual page turning paper books but being able to borrow from the library had me with 2-4 ebooks at any given time. Well, since soooooo many people got these ebook devices for xmas 2011, there seems to be a long waiting list for all the new books I want. I have decided it is actually now quicker to go to the library and get the real book. Hello paper….. So happy to see you again.
. Now I see what is available where and get it from wherever is the shorter wait. But really…-. I’m enjoying my paper books again. I missed them.
I love my kindle. We got Dash the Kindle fire for Christmas and he loves the instant access to books instead of having to wait for someone to take him to the library or book store.
Btwinny, we’ve had trouble sort of “managing” library books too. Not a big deal for me but Adam likes to read series books, and in order of course, so it’s pretty tricky to reserve them and have them come up in order. I can only have 10 books on request at a time (but seriously, some of the books have waiting lists of 50+ people!).
inthefastlane – do you buy books for Dash? Does he buy them himself? Get them from the library? I’m very curious about how other kids/parents of kids handle Kindle books. My preference is not to buy any.