Books vs. Kindle

Last week I was over at my friend Loui's Mountain Mermaid Blog and I got a big kick out of her "Joy of Books" post.  Check it out and watch the cute video she posted.  Her blog post that day made me sit and think about the current state of books.

Books vs. Kindle

I am so torn - I love to read and I'm always reading more than one book at a time.  I have a Kindle, which is wonderful because it's so easy to slip in my purse and I can take it almost anywhere.  I can also quickly buy books and have them immediately.   Right now I have about 50 books on my Kindle.  I like to pour over the free book listings on Amazon and download anything that sounds good.  Even if I were to load 100 books onto my Kindle, I could still carry it in one hand.  Imagine trying to balance 100 actual books - Impossible!

However....  I love the feel of a book.  I like to hold it in my hands and turn the pages.  I like the sound that the pages make when you turn them.  There is something exciting about cracking open a book for the first time and diving in.   Ever since I was a kid,  it was such a thrill to receive a book as a gift.  Most of the time my nose would be buried in the book before I had even finished opening my other gifts.

One of my earliest memories is getting a copy of "The Red Balloon"  from my grandparents.

I bet I read that book a hundred times over the years.

Back in the late 1950's, before there was such a thing as an audio book, my grandmother used to make reel to reel audio tapes of herself reading different children's books.  Then I would sit on the floor in front of her huge stereo hi fi unit, with the corresponding book in my lap. "Hansel & Gretel" was one of my favorites.  Nonny would be out in the kitchen making lunch, and I would sit and listen to her read the story on tape.  When it was time for me to turn the page, her tape recorded voice would say "Kimmie, turn the page."   And so I would quickly turn the page and stare at the pictures while her soft voice tumbled from the speakers and poured over me.  Later, I would start to actually run my finger over the words, trying so hard to read them.

I love and cherish books.  If I had room in my house I'd love to have rows of floor-to-ceiling, built in,  wooden book shelves.  You know, the kind with a rolling ladder so I could reach the ones way up high.  Even today I still have many of my old childhood favorites, because I just can't stand the thought of parting with them.  Books like  "The Red Balloon,"  "Anatole Over Paris,"  "Yertle the Turtle,"  "One Fish, Two Fish," "Caroline,"  "The Big Jump,"  "Peter the Parakeet,"  "Charlotte's Web."   When my kids were little, I read all of these books to them and they became their favorites as well.  Maybe one day I'll be reading them again to my grandchildren.  Every time I read them, they still delight me.  How does one throw out a book?

One of the biggest events of my childhood was the day my mom took me to the Chicago Public Library and I got my own library card!  The doors parted and I thought I had died and gone to book heaven.  Huge sunlit rooms, long wooden tables, book carts on rollers and row upon row upon row of books....  More books than I could count or fathom.  I think the very first book I ever took out was the Laura Ingalls Wilder book "The Little House on the Prairie."  Right then and there the flood gates opened and I was swept away on a literary sea.  For the rest of my life I would have books piled on my nightstand, strewn on my end tables, stacked next to my lazy boy chair, stuffed in my purse, and teetering on book shelves.  I still have my original library card.....

It's been a hard transition for me to Kindle.  It's easy, convenient, compact.  You turn the pages with a flick of the screen.  And like I said, it holds hundreds of books.  Kindle has its advantages, but it's not the same.

So, based on my post, which do you think I prefer.  Which do you prefer?

My favorite gift to give, is a book.  And my favorite gift to receive, is a book.  You can never go wrong with a book.

(all google images)