It’s an inevitable question isn’t it.  A while ago I had a kindle bought for me.  I was a little underwhelmed at the time because to be honest I prefer books.  However, that being said it’s amazing quite how easily the kindle becomes a part of your reading life, it inveigles itself and creeps up on you unexpectedly.  Let’s face it the books you buy for your kindle are more reasonably priced.  There are frequently good deals on some of your favourite books.  There are daily deals and many books are completely free, especially the classics.  If I was to list my pros and cons they would probably be:

Pros:

1. Cheaper books
2. No matter how many books you have on the go at any time your place is always saved – no need for bookmarks
3. No stacks of books all over the house
4. Easy to highlight relevant parts which is great when doing a readalong
5. Quick to purchase – ‘one click’
6. No postage costs or delivery time
7. You can take a thousand books away on holiday with you and still fit clothes into your suitcase
8. Really good for reading big chunksters

Cons:

1. They’re not books!  Books are like trophies in a way, I love having them gathered all over the house. I don’t know why but they’re just a part of my personality and I feel like they say something about me that a kindle just doesn’t.
2. No stacks of books all over the house!
3. The books are cheaper but if I read a book I love I still want to own the paper version which in reality means I buy the book twice!
4. It runs out of battery at the most inopportune times – my fault but nonetheless infuriating when it happens
5. They’re pretty useless in terms of glossaries or maps that are usually at the front or back of the book – if you’re reading a book it’s so much easier to flip from front to back.  Which means I tend to ignore these things completely!
6. I lose the association with the look of the book and the title and author.  Sometimes I will struggle to remember a book’s author after I’ve finished reading on the kindle – I know that sounds odd but when you’re reading a book you see the cover and name/author all the time.  It just reinforces it somehow.
7. I can’t be nosey and look at what other people are reading when they’re using a kindle.  I know, I know.  I’m a nosey so and so, but, I just can’t help wanting to know what everyone else is reading – well, it could be the next ‘big thing’.
8. It really is too easy to buy books this way which means you purchase on the slightest whim – there are no physical inhibitors, no scowling partners – no books taunting you from the windowsill, coffee table, bedside cabinet.

So, it appears evens doesn’t it – and yet, I still prefer the book.  I worry about all the talk surrounding the disappearance of paper books, how they’ll soon just become a thing of the past.  Let’s face it some books are never printed at all now.  What happens to all the gorgeous cover art??  Will it still be needed?

It definitely makes me a bit sad to think electronic books may be the end of paper ones.  After all, as much as I’ve grown accustomed to my kindle it’s never going to fulfill my dream of having a library is it!!

And, I wonder what authors make of ebooks.  I can’t help thinking it must be really satisfying when you receive that first copy of a book with your name on it – and yet at the same time so many books are self published now which gives some authors a chance that they wouldn’t previously have had)  Of course, there’s a whole other argument around that and the flooding of the book market with so many books that probably would never have made the cut through a publishing house.

Your thoughts??