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I grew up in a family where books were treasured and passed down from one generation to the next. When it was my turn to be the head of my own family, I bought each of my children his/her bookcase on his/her first birthday. Their bookcases became larger and accompanied them when they moved out. Mine, OTOH, grew smaller because the older I became, the less space I have in my home, and fighting for a space to keep my books became more and more difficult each time we moved house. The amount of books I gave away in the last decade could easily fill a small public library.
So, although I don't own an e-reader, I read more ebooks than physical books nowadays. I satisfy my three-book-a-week habit with online libraries from all over the country. I still have about 300 books I cannot live without, plus another 50 or so dictionaries that I accumulated during the years we lived in Europe. Those dictionaries/text books cannot be found in the States so they're precious to me. I'm in a quandary over their fates when we move to our very small residence next year.
And oh, I'm currently keeping about 400 GB worth of of audiobooks in my two external hard drives as well.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 10-30-2011 at 08:00 PM..
Not either or for me but e-readers are a necessity if I want to continue with my love of reading. Due to illness, my eyesight is failing and there are many fonts in printed books I can no longer read. My friend was kind enough to give me her Kindle when she upgraded to the latest version and I am so happy I can now read anything I want again.
Also, I had to move to a smaller apartment and give away all my precious books due to lack of space but I can replace all of them on my Kindle. I love the fact that it gives me the opportunity to buy whole collections of books now in the public domain like "The Complete Collection of Mark Twain" which I am reading now for only a couple of dollars. And I love that I can take my Kindle in my purse on the bus and read to my heart's content.
Sure I love the feel of a "real" book in my hands but if I cannot read it, it is of no use to me.
I realize my case is a bit in the extreme but I am very, very happy I am living in this day and age where even with my eye problems, I do not have to give up one of the things I love best: reading.
I really, really appreciate this viewpoint.
I wouldn't know what to do if I could not read a book.
There are benefits...however for the now, for me; I'm a traditional book lover.
I love the sensation of holding a book, I love my bookshelf, and to me a house is not a home without books.
This thread reminds me of a book I am kicking myself for not buying... something like 1912 copy of Wuthering Heights. I remember standing in the store so long gazing at it, smelling it, wondering who had read it, where , when... that I ran out of time... I had to get to a meeting & thought Id go back to buy it and haven't. I gotta see if its still there. I think about THAT book all the time... and that is something you just can't do with a kindle or ipad.
I thought I'd miss hard copy books, but after having a Kindle since last Christmas, I can't really say I do. I LOVE being able to get a book at a moments notice. I LOVE being able to carry a bunch of books on a trip without the extra weight. And most of all I LOVE being able to get the lastest books for FREE via my public library without having to go pick them up.
I don't miss the clutter of books and I really don't miss dusting them.
I love my nook! I had tons of paperbacks that I have read over the years taking up space in my house and have recently donated most of them to my library. The Nook has liberated me!
Still enjoy a cup of coffee and a fresh newspaper though.
can you "flip" to a specific point in a book with an e-reader?
I know you can bookmark pages of novels but I have many short story collections and I was wondering if you can more or less instantaneously go to, say, short story number 21 of a collection of 40 s.s.?
at one point I heard e-books didn't have page numbers b/c of the format and being able to change font size but I'm asking b/c so much time has passed since they first came out.
how are they for navigation within a collection of short stories.
can you "flip" to a specific point in a book with an e-reader?
I know you can bookmark pages of novels but I have many short story collections and I was wondering if you can more or less instantaneously go to, say, short story number 21 of a collection of 40 s.s.?
at one point I heard e-books didn't have page numbers b/c of the format and being able to change font size but I'm asking b/c so much time has passed since they first came out.
how are they for navigation within a collection of short stories.
thanks in advance.
Yes. I do it by either the location number if kmow what it is or by opening the Table of Contents and clicking on the story.
Almost all e-books have a Table of Contents now (I'd say they ALL do, but I'm sure there is one out there somewhere that doesn't). It's linked to the correction location in the text. You can also bookmark any page you wish in the e-book or annotate the page.
Most of the newer books on Amazon have a page number instead of just the data location - makes it much easier to cite.
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