The reader's view | A love of books #real paper #technology

A wonderful place to read a book

It was my birthday yesterday and amongst the lovely presents I received was a Kindle.

I have been wanting one for ages and now it is beside me, loaded with a couple of books that I want to read and primed to go.

I feel a sense of trepidation of the technology - it took me a moment to learn how to turn the page; but it isn't turning a page.  All of the joy of feeling the weight of a new or indeed old book in your hands is missing.  I cannot judge whether the book is going to take me long to read.  I cannot smell the enticing smell of a new book.

I miss the delving in that you have with a real book, looking backwards and forwards through it, building up an image of the author and searching for pictures.  The assessment of the front cover is missing.  It is akin to picking up a fusty, dusty old hardback from the 1950's where there is no clue of the author's intent, his past musings or indeed what the story will be about.  I feel a little blind.

There is no chance of a scribble in the margin or a flower pressed between the pages with this machine ....

but there is the comfort of a light, easy to read vehicle for the printed word; a library full of promise and only a few clicks away.

I am in two minds.