Reading Habits

[poliphilo]

I used to buy fine editions. Then I couldn't afford them any more.  In the last year or so I've realised I no longer need or hanker after  hard copies. All the books in the world are swarming around in the aether- new ones, old ones, very, very rare ones. Hit a few buttons and there they are at your feet- just as if you were shooting grouse.

I still own lots of books. As Virginia Woolf said (I think it was her) "books do furnish a room".

The last book I read (J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys by Andrew Birkin) was an old paperback that was coming apart at the seams. The one I'm reading at the moment (Sentimental Tommy by J.M. Barrie himself) is an e-text. I don't find any qualitative difference between    curling up with a real book and curling up with my e-reader.  After all, it's the words that matter.

Comments

[red-girl-42.livejournal.com]

I think e-readers are a marvelous invention, but I can't get into them myself. For me, part of the joy of reading is the sensual pleasure of the book--the smell of it, the feel of the left side growing thicker as the right side slowly grows smaller...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm just not much of a sensualist :)