Bad pun, serious issue: do I buy a Kindle? I love books, but we’re running out of space and I struggle with the concept of getting rid of books I won’t read again… because I might read them again, you see. Maybe.
In favour of the proposal, firstly, is that I can read books without having them clutter up the flat, e.g. the Bernard Cornwell Anglo-Saxon series, that’re my equivalent of beach reading. Secondly, I think I would buy a greater variety of books if I had them on the Kindle. Buying a book at a bookshop is quite a deliberate and well-considered act, because one has to carry the book home and find somewhere for it. An instant electronic file is a less weighty decision in both respects. Thirdly, there’s the carrying around of books post-purchase. My George R. R. Martin books simply don’t fit in my bag, which started me thinking that a Kindle would fit nicely into the front of my satchel whatever I was reading. It would also make taking books on holiday extremely easy. Fourthly, I wouldn’t have to wait for delivery when I ordered a book. Finally, if I were to get the 3G version, I could sign up to fine magazines and have them sent to me even when I was on holiday.
Against the proposal stands, of all people, the mighty orator, author and bibliophile, Marcus Cicero, who said, “a room without books is like a body without a soul”. By buying an e-book reader, am I contributing to the decline of the physical book and the wonderful, physical bookshop? I’ve been organising my book collection obsessively since I was around five years old. I like them to show off my interests and be displayed for visitors or define the function of the study. Books make furniture look better. Secondly, some books will always need to be in hardcopy. If you were researching using more than one book, that would be very difficult using the Kindle, because you couldn’t compare the two side-by-side. Cook books, too, are better from the page than on the computer screen (although I use the internet for recipes too), as they’re less worrisome if they get covered in spatters of food. The pictures look nicer, too. Thirdly, an e-book reader can’t compete with the texture of a book and turning the pages oneself. I would still have to buy copies of books that I particularly liked, thereby reducing the problem, but not solving it. Following on from both points two and three, not all books are available to buy electronically anyway.
In conclusion, the obvious answer is to buy a Kindle and read certain books on it while buying physical copies of others where desirable or necessary. So, do let me know if you have an opinion on the subject. I’m very close to pressing the ‘go to checkout’ button, but it’s not yet too late…
