The battle for book shelf space rages on in the living rooms and book stores. I personally L.O.V.E paper books because there is something remarkably personal about them – seeing the pages get worn over time, looking at the creases to see what might have been deemed important for a particular person. I even delight in going through old text books to see what I highlighted to see if it’s still relevant. The good that comes of text books if any is usually little notes I find someone slipped me in class, highlighted passages, no so much.
So with this in mind I ask you my friends, do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Maybe the genre matters to you? Let’s start a dialog about it. For me genre does matter. I love to read patterns and recipes when I have a few moments to myself, it’s the perfect way to unwind at the end of the day – a good book in hand, some tea or wine depending on the day, wrapped up in my circular blanket with my pets all around me, what could be better?
Last evening I flipped through the New York Times Cookbook which I received as a gift in college from a friend who was stamping his way through the Publishers’ Clearinghouse Sweekstakes (another story for another day). As you can imagine, it is no longer in pristine condition 30 plus years later. When ever I use it I make notes in the margins about the occasion for which I made something, modifications, errors and omissions, and general reviews of the recipes therein. Perennial favorites like my banana bread, pancake, and waffle pages are long since worn through barely holding onto the binding threads. Others like the wholewheat versions of the same are designated “yucky” “gross” and “not worth the time to do it again” right across them so there is absolutely no question as to the emotion they evoked. Written in a variety of pens, markers and pencils over the years. Blue lead from my architecture school days, red markers from grad school, and my trusty fountain pen purple ink of course. Not really possible to provide this level of personalization in an ebook but they sure are easier to carry when traveling. So for the really valuable books I do buy both, paper and plastic.
I do the same with patterns, correcting them as I read them, adjusting the measurements to suit the intended recipient of a gift. In my pattern books I tend to write in pencil because over time people’s sizes have changed and it’s easier to just update the pattern notes in pencil than cross them out, especially in books with stingy margins.
Chick Lit and fiction I tend to buy as ebooks because they’re read once and not really worthy of shelf space. If there’s a particularly good one, I’ll buy a copy. Queen of the Turtle Derby for instance, totally worth having both paper and plastic copies.
While you think on your book preferences, I have news to share!
My book, Cozy Coastal Knits, is now available for ebook fans!
Kindle Readers:
Nook Readers:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cozy-coastal-knits-rosann-fleischauer/1142656307?ean=9780811772174
If you love a good read and a good discount, the publisher set up a 30% offer on their web site just for us so please, sign up for my newsletter to receive the code or send me an email and I’ll send you the code directly. Every purchase counts so even if you don’t want a copy for your collection, you could buy one and donate it to your local library or community center.
The construction site next door is quieting down, that means it must be lunch time so I’m off to get the rabbits and dog fed. Hope to hear from you when you get a chance. I’d love to know how you like to enjoy books now that there are so many different options available to us.
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