My next statement may seem shocking, even heretical, coming from an English major who ought to have a dear attachment to books: I have a bit of an obsession with my new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.
I love being able to highlight by simply dragging my finger across the screen. I love being able to carry thousands of books in a package that weighs less than one paperback volume. I love the “X-Ray” feature that tells me which passages mention specific characters. I love that, at the touch of one button, I can see every single highlight and note that I made. I love reading at night without having to constantly reposition my clip-on book light – my new Kindle comes with a built in backlight! Already, after less than a week, I see a long, beautiful friendship forming with my electronic reader.
For quite some time I stood opposed to such technology. I thought electronic formatting could only degrade the beautiful art of reading a book. What would reading be if it came without the distinct smell of a book? How could I enjoy a book if I could not actually feel the pages in my hand and highlight my favorite passages with my trusted mechanical pencil? Would I even remember and absorb my reading as effectively?
I assumed, too, that the glare from a screen would give me a severe headache after prolonged use, cutting my reading time short. What I feared most, though, was that e-readers would become too popular and push paper books, like writing letters, into oblivion.
Laptops, iPhones, and iPads work well for gathering research articles and writing papers, but when it came to curling up and reading, only paper could suffice.
Finally, though, my visits to Amazon.com during my freshman year here bombarded me with enough advertisements for their Kindle that my curiosity peaked. I saw that the screen appeared just like a book page (or so they claimed). I knew that I would be commuting to Boston almost daily for a class the next summer, so I finally gave in and asked for the original Kindle keyboard for Christmas during my freshman year of college.
Rather than making reading more cumbersome and less enjoyable, my interest in reading only grew stronger. I found the screen easy to read and the time seemed to pass more quickly when reading in electronic format. I loved that I could switch between books with a mere touch of a button. I especially loved that I could download everything published before 1930 for free! I began reading Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen, and other great classic authors I had always meant to read.
Not surprisingly, then, three months later I changed my major from Psychology to English. My casual love of reading became even more enflamed thanks to a fun, exciting new device.
Of course, the novelty of the Kindle keyboard soon wore off some very tiny amount. I still adored the device (and even now I have some attachment issues giving the old friend away), but I noticed a few flaws that I overlooked in my initial excitement. I noticed that the screen appeared slightly grayer than a usual book page. I found highlighting cumbersome, having to use a scroll button every time I wanted to note a passage. Thus, the Kindle keyboard became a tool not to replace novels for English classes, but when I wanted to read something simply for pleasure. However, when I saw the new features of the latest Kindle, I knew Amazon fixed all these minor, fairly insignificant drawbacks.
Obviously, I was not alone in my excitement to get the latest Kindle – the extreme demand led to a month wait! It was well worth it, though. The new backlight makes the screen appear crisper and easier to read than even a paperback.
I can now create and access highlights and notes effectively and easily with a mere touch of the screen. Not only will this Kindle be fun, but I foresee it being a great, effective tool in all of my English classes (not to mention an effective money saver with all the free classic literature I can download).
I now see that my internal debate between e-reader and physical book does not need to be an either-or proposition, but rather it can be both-and.
No matter what Amazon adds to future editions of their product, the Kindle will never, and can never, fully and truly replace books to me. I still gaze covetously on my grandparents’ collection of old, leather-bound classics.
Sometimes, I still need to feel and experience the actual book in my hand and admire the words on the actual page, which is why I specifically chose to order The Casual Vacancy by J.K Rowling in hardcover.
At the same time, though, carrying around my new Kindle, not needing to bookmark pages, not needing to carry around a backlight or a pencil to highlight, and not needing to pack multiple physical books makes reading easier and more convenient in class and on the go.
With that said, I sincerely hope, too, that there are enough true English nerds that crave a real, physical novel to save books from becoming simply a distant memory.
Even if readers choose to indulge in electronic readers, I feel that there is a beauty in books that nothing electronic can ever replicate. Thus, though e-readers are on the rise, I firmly believe that books will forever remain.
