Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society A book. I actually finished it last week. Funny --- I saw that a friend was reading it and asked to borrow it when she was done. She brought it over mid-December. Less than a week later was my birthday, and my grandmother-in-law gave it to me as a gift. Of course, I also got my Kindle then. And, in the end, I bought it myself to read on my Kindle.
When I started, I wasn't sure I liked it. It is in the form of letters. And I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. And I couldn't easily flip back and forth between pages (so far the only drawback to the kindle that I've found). But eventually I settled in. And eventually, I did enjoy it. It was light reading. It was a non-stop, must-finish-now page turner. But it was an enjoyable read.
If anybody else is interested.... here is my old blog about this book http://www.humzoo.com/spike/blog/77/
I'm still not sold on the Kindle. I just can't imagine not having the feel of a book. Although, most people I know that have one say that you get over that fast. I guess that if you really loved the book you could buy the hard copy. There are plenty of books I would gladly pass on to someone but there are some that are like little treasures. I can look at the cover or spine of some books and remember the spot I curled up and read it and loved every word. Can a Kindle do that?
I can't say the Kindle made me feel warm & fuzzy toward it looking at it. I will admit the iPad book looked more inviting and more "book-like". If I was going to choose between the two for an e-book, I would probably go with the iPad. I could imagine curling up with it a lot more. But, in the long-run, curling up with a physical book with the feel of the page in my hand and the smell of the library binding in my nose is hard to beat. Brings back great memories of childhood and book friends and the library.
I used to want to keep all my books but I've rethought that and am going through the 30 boxes of books in the garage and do some serious clean-up and donations or if required (stripped books) recycling. There are some treasures, though, that were tough to find (most out of print) that I won't part with easily and might look nice in my new library when it gets built. :)