A reader's heresy: I hate real books

Amazon reported that their sales of e-books has outstripped that of hardbacks. That's not really surprising, as hard cover books are incredibly expensive and we're in a recession.

But some of my friends have been lamenting this, and I'm not. I won't lament when sales of digital books exceed all "real" books, whatever the cover. Because while I love what's in books, I hate books themselves.

I hate the dust, mites and mold they harbor. I hate having them around the house to collect dust, mites and mold. I hate the smell of old books. I hate the way their spines have to be broken to lie flat, and how many paperbacks never do lie flat even then.

Speaking of which, I hate paperbacks because they're ugly.

So there. I've said it. I don't miss "real" books and embrace my Kindle and the digital era with open arms.

You may feel differently. You may be like Star Trek captain Picard, who would curl up in his spaceship cabin with a "real" book of Shakespeare's sonnets. That's okay, too. But given how frequently people rhapsodize about their love of physical books and turning pages and so on, I thought I'd present the other side.

Comments

[Liz Palika]

I agree about the dust....But I do like real books. I don't care what paper backs look like.

But that said, I really do like my Kindle.

And as the author of many real books - several of which are now available as ebooks - this summer I'm working on my first totally ebook. And thats kind of exciting.

[Red]

I'm getting used to my Kindle. I do love books, especially new ones, because they have that 'smell.' But considering how many times I've moved in the last ten years, I can tell you that that 'love' weighs a fucking ton. So, my goal is to replace as many of my actual books with e-books, and either sell or give the real ones to the local library. Well, except for my anime mangas, Shakespeare collection (complete with notes in the margins) and British editions of Harry Potter.