Random Thoughts on Books and Ebooks

As we were getting ready to leave the US, my husband's colleagues gave him a Kindle (ebook reader) as a parting gift. He very sincerely came and placed it in my hands saying I'd do more justice to it than he! In fact he insisted that this was a gift intended for me (according to him, he'd dropped broad hints that his wife is a voracious reader!) because he got other gifts too. I was thrilled, because not only had his thoughtful colleagues given him the Kindle, they had also bought gift cards worth many many books that I could download online! As a result, amongst all the feverish sorting, packing, discarding activity that went on during our last few days there,I was also frantically browsing the web, reading reviews, checking prices and downloading book after book on my Kindle! It paid off when we came to India and I had time on my hands but no books (Real books, that is). I devoured book after book on the Kindle.

While on the subject, let me tell you my honest opinion on ebook readers. There are many kinds in the market these days apart from the Kindle, for example the Apple iPad and a new device called Phi. They are very convenient as far as buying, reading and storing books is concerned. For instance, you can store almost 2000 ebooks on the Kindle (more or less depending on the size of the books, of course). You can carry them around (all of them!) with ease. The device is so slim you can slip it in your handbag/briefcase/backpack and whip it out anytime anywhere and just...read!

Sure, it's very chic and cool and smart about ebook readers, but here's my problem. To me the process of buying (or even renting) a book is not a simple 3-step process wherein I

1. go to bookstore/library
2. select a book
3. pay for it/check it out

Nuh-uh! It is more on the lines of

1. Find a long enough space of time (e.g. entire afternoon, entire morning, entire day!!) to visit the bookstore/library
2. Tell hubby and son to 'carry on' elsewhere while I browse.
3. Walk around checking different sections, just a general stroll to get into the mood, you know?
4. Shoo away any hovering salesperson with a smile and a 'just browsing' while trying not to steal a look at the book in the shelf behind him/her.
5. Take out my 'Reading Wishlist'. (Really, I have one!)
6. Check for books on the list. Pick each one up.
7. Riffle through the pages, inhale deeply to smell the 'new book' aroma. Read the back blurb. Read a random paragraph from a random page.
8. Check the price. Put it in the shopping basket (or not!).
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 multiple times till satisfied or till time, money or both fall short!
10. Come out beaming and glowing in anticipation of a good read!!

So you get the idea? Where's all the sensory experience of touching, smelling and actually reading a book with an ebook? There's no individuality to the cover pages; I can't check how many pages I'm through (though Kindle tells you how far in the book you are, in percentages) and how may more are left. And worst of all, I can't use a real bookmark!

I'm crazy about bookmarks; I collect them from all places that I visit. Close friends have also started gifting me bookmarks (God bless them!) So it's a great joy for me to choose one from my collection and put it in any book I'm reading. I can't do that in a reader. And can you imagine a nice mahogany floor to ceiling bookshelf with one solitary Kindle sitting in it instead of many, many beautiful bound books! Sacrilegious!

There was an article about why ebooks haven't caught on so much in India. If most Indians are like me, then I'm not surprised at all.