I Love E-Books, But Dead Tree Books Are Tops…
I had an epiphany of sorts last week.
I finally unpacked the books that I hadn’t seen for nearly two years, since we moved to this house, and put them into what hopefully will be their final resting place. I have to say, I had an absolute ball. Those who follow me on Twitter, will have seen me oooh, and ahhh my way through my book collection.
Like I twittered at the time, you really can’t beat the physicality Of the dead tree book.
I really love the convenience of my Sony PRS-505, but whilst I sat going through my old and not-so-old books, I realised that paper books will always come first, last, and always with me.
I guess I hadn’t consciously realised it, but every time I’ve bought an e-book that I’ve really enjoyed, I’ve then gone on and bought a paper copy.
So, basically, in some instances, I’m actually paying twice.
That’s crazy business.
It’s not just the smell of a paper book either, since I’m not all that fond of sniffing paper, but it’s the surge of emotion that I feel, when I catch a glimpse of a particular cover, it’s also the memory that might be linked to that particular book.
For instance, I have a Barbara Cartland book called Captive Heart (It was my mother’s book, hehe), and although I haven’t so much as turned a page in it, in more than twenty years, it will always remind me of the day I was bored at home, so I decided to make a song out of all the books that were within reach.
The first book in the list was BC’s effort, and to this day, I can still recall my little ditty:
“Captives of The Heart (I had to add the ‘of’ and the ‘the’ otherwise it wouldn’t have worked), Exclusive Contract, Obsession,
Savage Adoration, Dilemma in Par-rra-dise!”
Of course it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but I was only twelve.
If I should happen to meet any of you in the future, remind me about it, and I’ll sing it to you. 
Anyway, as I was saying, so many of my paper books take me back to happy times. For instance, Virginia Andrews’ Flowers In The Attic reminds me of the day we had a school trip to Alton Towers, and I’d spent the entire night reading because I just couldn’t put it down. I remember how punch-drunk I was during the entire trip, but it was a lovely day.
Rita Clay Estrada’s The Best Things in Life, reminds me of a beloved baby-sitter, who used love playing Diana Ross’ Touch Me In The Morning, at full blast, and used to dance round the room to amuse myself and my brother. She was such a hoot. And a total slut too if I recall correctly:)
My copy of Anne of Green Gables will always remind me of the time my eleven year-old self, ran all the way into town, because the library had sent me a card telling me that the copy of Anne of The Island that I’d ordered had arrived. I wasn’t allowed to go to town on my own, so instead of walking home, which used to take me about 30 minutes, I decided to run into town, and catch the bus back home. I’d figured that my parents would never know that I’d taken a detour, and to this day, I’ve managed to keep that illicit journey a secret)
Megan Alexander’s 1984 caregory, Blossoms in The Snow, was the first Harlequin Super Romance book I’d ever read, and got me on a Super Romance kick, that eventually led to discovering my first Brenda Novak title. The one where the model gets trapped in the snow with the hero, and ends up getting pregnant. Anybody know which one I mean?
I still have a great amount of my favourite children’s books e.g. Pollyanna, Heidi, Dimsie, Famous Five books, Gulliver’s Travels, The Bagthorpes (the funniest books evah), Just Willam, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Little Princess, etc, and each of them come with precious memories. They are mostly worn , yellow-looking, and dog-eared, but they are still here with me.
A lot of us have soundtracks that chart our lives, well, I also have books that do the same.
Will I feel the same about the books in my e-Reader in twenty years time? Will I be filled with warmth as I click through the pages of the books in my Reader? Will I be taken back to a time and place, that meant so much to me? Will those books still even be in my e-Reader?
I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m pretty sure the answer will be no.
I love the instant gratification of e-books, and the convenience of the e-book reader, after all, taking books on holiday will never again be a chore, but alas they can never ever replace the paper book in my heart.
What say you?
By the way, I’ve also noticed that it takes me a lot longer to read e-books these days, but that may be due to the actual device rather than anything else. A scroll button on my Sony Reader would have been so much better.
Posted by Karen Scott · 
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