6.07.2010

Kindle: friend or foe?


I have loved reading since before I can remember. Some of my greatest childhood memories consist of hours spent at the public library, the agonizing decision on which books would make it into my little tote bag. I would read in the car, in my bedroom, outside in a tree. I even turned my closet into a reading nook when I was eight. I took everything out of it, put in a desk lamp and lined it with a sleeping bag, and spent hours and hours reading in there. I was the kid who took a flashlight to bed and read under the covers, until my mom busted me and made me go to sleep.
My love of books has continued well into my adulthood. My favorite place in the world is a bookstore. There's something exhilarating about it. The best book you've ever read, the book that changes who you are or how you look at the world could be just waiting for you to stumble upon. I could sit for days in a bookstore, in one of those cushy armchairs with a coffee in hand and read until my hearts content.
So naturally, the invention of the wireless reading device (i.e. Kindle, nook, Reader) has never resonated with me. I mean, don't get me wrong, I get the concept. I get that having a little device I could keep in my purse with 1500 books at my disposal sounds like a good idea. It's convenient. And as a mom of almost 4 kids, I am all about convenience. But there is just something about it that makes me feel dirty. Like I'm cheating on books, real books, with paper pages that get musty with age or crinkled after a day at the beach. I can see how downloading a book in a matter of minutes is so much easier (and cheaper) than going to the bookstore. But that thought just makes me sad. I wonder how all of these great authors, that sat by candlelight with a pen in hand and jotted down what would turn into some of the greatest literary works, would feel about me downloading their masterpiece to my Kindle. Is that the way The Great Gatsby or Anna Karenina was meant to be read?
So, I am resisting technology. I am going to stand my ground. I believe that the electronic reading device is a fad, one that we will look back on in a few years and laugh about. I believe that books will come back into style. Everything truly great does, right?

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