What happened is that this summer, I read 11//22/63 by Stephen King. I liked it well enough, but it had a few things going against it, namely #1 it is on Neil's ipad. That means it isn't available for me to cart around everywhere I go, since it is not MY ipad. I don't have an ipad. #2, It's an e-book. I hate e-reading. #3 It wasn't THAT amazing.
So it took forever to traipse through. Every time I'd decided to plunk myself down and clap eyes onto my book, someone had lost my page or the ipad was needed elsewhere. So it took forever. FOREVER. ALL summer. My attention span is not that highly developed. I need to get my book, get that emmereffer read and move on as soon as possible. I basically violate them.
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| Watch this until it gets to the part where Bruce Lee ninjas a book shelf. LIKE THAT, YOU GUYS. K... Might take a second... THERE! BAM! |
I couldn't do that with Neil's ipad. Pft.
I hate not holding a real and true old timey book. I hate pushing the button to turn the page (my e-reader is kind of ancient but I refuse to replace it lest I drop it in the bathtub). I hate when the battery dies and I have to read while plugged in somewhere leaving me unable to both read and attend to the rest of my shiz. I hate not being able to flip around through the book at my leisure and reread passages because if I lose my page it takes 20 minutes to find it again by flip flip flipping through tedious e-pages "click....nope...click....nope..." I can't look at the edge and guess where-ish the passage I want to reread is unless I remember my page number and go through the little calculator kobo systemy thingy and it just kills it. I need real, tangible, burnable books.
Ugh. E-reading is only convenient when traveling or totally broke. I also hate going to the library- they always want their ruddy books back.
The real problem is that I've been fully soaked into book after book. Five this week. That is a heavy load of novels for a fancy lady who is supposed to be doing other stuff.
I haven't been doing other stuff. Not even my hair. I'm in THAT place, Readers.
This week I've read: Sussex Drive by Linda Svendsen; Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg; The Strange Case of Dr Jeykyll & Mr Hyde by Whatshisface; The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald and The Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Because I read them one after the other after such a long drawn out, sporadic summer reading experience and because they are all very fanciful; they are all sloshing around in my head like classic-pulpy-scifi stew. I read them too fast and now the plots are blending inside of my brain. I'll be reading along when I confuse two plot lines, need to flip back but then remember: I have a stupid e-reader so I CAN'T.
Why must real books be so expensive and why must I insist on book shopping in new book stores? Why am I going to publish this without proofreading?
Some things are mysteries.
13 comments:
I've always thought the benefit of a library was that they HAD to take their books back and you don't have to box them up and move them for the rest of your life.
Thank you for writing this post for me.
Just saved me some time. And eyestrain, and going blind, and the flashes between pages and the
I have book sloshing going on inside my brain too.
(We will put up a tree, or not...whatever facilitates a visit!)
To be fair I'm pretty sure you could burn an e-reader if you tried hard enough.
Get an e-reader. It saves trees, you can cart around hundreds of books at once and it weighs almost nothing. It's the future, don't resist.
I'm not so sure about that, Phil.
Trees=renewable. Paper=recyclable.
E-readers are full of plastic & earth metals that are non renewable; not to mention their manufacturing process must leave a carbon footprint; not to mention they are manufactured en masse in superfactories; not to mention they are produced by HUGE corporations.
I'm not convinced they are better.
Also, you are pressured into constantly purchasing newer better models as fast as they are cranked out. Add in packaging and I'm not so sure a book proper isn't a better environmental choice.
Last week I tripped over the cord of my kindle fire while reading & trying to walk some where at the same time , causing me to nearly concuss myself. I also hurt my knee.
@Chelle, well, you did want me to talk nerdy.
They're even worse, contain toxic metals, lose their digital info, will not last centuries and are not author friendly.
This coming from a technophile.
I was disappointed by the Great Gatsby one night last week! Real life book or an e-read that sucker was definitely not great.
Amen! I love me some real books. Mainly to destroy them as I read. The more I love a book, the more broken the spine is, the more dog eared the pages, the more curled the cover. Abuse is a sign of love in this case. Can't do that with ebooks. Stupid ebooks.
I feel the exact same way about those reader-thingamajigs. I have an ancient Kindle, but I TOO am so afraid of dropping it in the water. I may have gotten sunscreen on mine this summer. I love the smell of a book. New or old.
I like being able to physically flip back and forth between pages, too.
But I also like reading lengthly fanfiction (don't judge!) and other literary material online using my computer.
So I guess the latter of these two experiences might be improved by an e-reader, at least.
I understand the desire for books... but I am a bad book owner.
When I evacuated for Katrina, I brought the cats, the sister, the roommate, the neighbor... but I didn't bring the books.
It was such a sad sight. Over 1000 books made into pulp, the rest covered in mold. I had an amazing collection. I had rare books, old books, new books, signed books. And I let them die. They haunt me, with their rustling pages going bump in the night.
So. E-reader it is.
((hangs head in shame))
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