Three years ago I was completely against e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle because I loved showing off all the books I owned on a bookshelf and would even store them alphabetically, which gave me a feeling of accomplishment. It wasn’t the fact that bookstores were closing down around me, as I would always buy books online anyway (who doesn’t like to save money?) that made me detest these new electronic versions of books, but the fact that I wouldn’t be able to hold a book, flick through the pages or turn down the corners to mark where I had read to.
However, last year I caved. I bought a Kindle. My reason behind buying one was that I’d be travelling for a year and the suitcase allowance at airports would never be large enough for me to transport my books around! Books are just a hassle when going on holiday. When I was younger I would go to the library and take out the maximum number of books allowed and would always read them and reread them in the space of two weeks because I couldn’t take enough books with me. My hand luggage would be stuffed full of books just to make my suitcase lighter!
Since I’ve had an e-reader, I don’t think I would ever buy a book again. I have no need. Books are bulky and heavy whereas an e-reader can easily be slipped into a handbag and is extremely light. I don’t want to be carrying round a book all day just so I have something to do on the metro, but instead I am carrying round a whole library!
Electronic books are also a lot cheaper than the hard copies and a lot of the time you can find some amazing books for free too. There’s even an option to read a sample of the book before you buy it, which I find is a great thing. There’s nothing worse than buying a book and not being able to get through the first chapter!
I do hate that many people are losing their jobs because of the rise in people buying digital versions of books, but that is the direction our world is moving in, as it’s happened to music and films too. I think the number of people owning e-readers will continue to rise despite how sad it is that paper copies of books will disappear. Keep turning those pages whilst you can!
What do you think about e-readers? Have you got one? Would you like one?
