I posted this as a comment on another writer’s blog (http://tamedingtonshaw.blogspot.com/) and was so infatuated with myself that I decided to put it up here. I have a low infatuation level evidently.
I swore never to cave in to the electronic book. For 40 years I was never without a book of some kind, usually a paperback jammed in my back pocket. I’ve read books at 30,000 feet in the air and +800 feet below the ocean’s surface. Love them, eat them, cherish them, need them.
And then I won a Galaxy Tablet in a contest. It had all the stuff the Ipad does including a Nook and Kindle capacity. I downloaded a free Bible on it and some free classics. Bleh, it was just OK.
About a year ago I went to visit my mom in Florida. I decided to buy a book on Kindle as I didn’t have time to run to the bookstore to get the one I wanted and the prices at the airport were too high. Oops.
I haven’t looked back. I’ve bought paper books now just when they are not available on Kindle. That’s exactly 4 books in a year… I used to buy 50+ a year. My Kindle? That little monster is loaded with over 100 books. I read way more now than ever before with the Kindle. It can buy new books whenever I get a wireless signal. I can buy a book I read about in an article or review without moving two feet. At ACFW last year I bought two books by the people lecturing while I sat in their presentation. (Both pretty darned good books as a matter of fact.)
Am I a fan.. whoa, yeah! It gives me the chance to take hundreds of books with me everywhere. They are cheaper than paper books, more convenient and I share my Kindle account with my mom and my wife. We all get to read each others books.
Yes, the smell and cover art of a new book are a joy. But I’ve found a new joy in the convenience of the e-book.