Community

Like most affairs, I swear I never meant for it to happen. I’ve always been devoted to my books. And by books, I mean signatures of thick creamy white paper, folded together, glued between two hard binder boards, and wrapped in a beautifully designed jacket. I love books so much, in college, I signed up for a class at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and after one session, I went on a crazed shopping spree and bought bobbins of waxed linen thread, fancy papers, bone folders, and my very own awl. I learned how to sew a pamphlet stitch, a longstitch binding, and a multi-signature case binding. I made crazy conceptual book art and enough blank journals to last two or three lifetimes.

 

And then I met Him. One day, he downloaded Microsoft Reader onto his PocketPC and filled it with classic novels. Practically overnight, he went from someone who picked up a novel possibly once or twice a year, to a compulsive reader who carries his ereader with him everywhere, just in case he has a spare moment to read. Even he was surprised by how much he suddenly loved books again. Was it the gadget factor? (He’s a gearhead after all.) Or the easy access to books? The soothing glow of the screen just before bedtime—the lack of distractions allowing him to visualize the world of the story? Yes, yes, yes, all of the above.

 

Month after month, he would ask me if I wanted to try ebooks too. He gave me a digital reader. He bought ebooks he thought I might like. But I protested. I could never love an ebook. What about the feel of the pages in your hand? What about the smell of fresh ink? I love looking at book jackets, reading the back copy. Besides I’m an editor, for goodness sake. What would my friends think?

 

And then one night, my resolve wore thin, and lacking a new novel to read, I fell into the arms of the ereader. From that moment, I was hooked. I have since owned or tried out nearly every ereader software and almost every version of every ereader device from the SonyReader to the Kindle. Physical books and I now have an open relationship—I still buy and read art books, picture books, fantastically designed books, hardcovers and trade paperbacks written by authors whose work I love and want to collect. But now I buy ebooks in equal measure, check them out from the library, and even sometimes download a public domain version from the Internet. And I’m reading more than ever before. I love having an entire library of books at my fingertips, anytime, anywhere. I used to lug a full carry-on of books on vacation, terrified of being caught without something to read. Now I just plop my reader in the bag. And when I wake up in the middle of the night, finish a book, and am dying to read the sequel, I only have to wait five seconds for the download and I’m lost in fantasy land again.

 

So it may be no surprise that I don’t believe the digitization of books is as apocalyptic as so many in the industry seem to think it is.

 

Read the rest!