Technology…love it/hate it. I can’t imagine a time when I didn’t have a phone with me at all times. I love being able to reach someone wherever, whenever. My GPS has saved me hours of wandering through back roads trying to find my destination. My laptop – well, that is how I have met all of you, my wonderful internet friends! But……here’s where I draw the line……don’t take away my books!!!
I love sitting down with a book, I love the feel of it, I love turning pages. I like to admire the book’s cover and jacket (if it has one). Even the smell of books is attractive to me. A new book has that ‘fresh off the presses’ smell, while an old book has the ‘I’ve been around the block’ smell. Sometimes, I like to fall asleep with a book on my lap. My house is filled with books, books in shelves, books in piles, books by my bedside. I just really like books!
I don’t want to read my books on an electronic devise. I don’t want to scroll to a new page, and I don’t want all my books and pages to look the same and be the same size. I want my books to take up space and not be contained in something so tiny that I can’t see it.
Textbooks should be heavy – poetry books should be pretty – children’s books should be bright and happy – and romance novels should be paperbacks with star-crossed lovers pictures on their covers.
Babies have pacifiers…..children have blankies……I have my books!
Reflections on the Journey 
I love this post!! I wrote about a similar subject on my blog not too long ago. I feel the same way about books and while I will read blogs and some free ebooks on my laptop, I much prefer a printed book and wouldn’t want to eliminate them…books ARE very comforting. Great point, Andie.
As a writer, I feel the same way about books, but … I don’t feel that eReaders will take away our traditional books. To me, it’s more the best of both worlds, making amazing stories available in even more ways. And now, even our library lends eBooks we download on our eReaders, so I’m hoping technology is expanding the role of books in our lives, rather than limiting it.
I agree with you! I love the feel of an old book, a new book. I love to jot down notes on the sides of the pages and underline things that speak just to me!
Thanks for this one Andie!
All right … now you confuse me!
I’ve picked up the book I’ve written and smelled it. I took a really biiiig sniff. And then another …. NOTHING.
It neither smells new nor old and round the block!
It has a cover, and a blurb about me on the back, and pages with words in the middle. But no smell.
Is there something wrong with my book? Or with me?
God bless.
(Thinks – Perhaps if I put a few drops of after-shave amongst the pages?).
I couldn’t agree more . . . and I love it when I see a child or young person with the same opinion!
I like to smell books, too — the old book smell and the new book smell. When I was young I used to think of books as quiet — they always had a lot on their minds. Used books and library books always gave me the feeling that previous readers left parts of themselves with the book — the book becoming a bank of reader’s feelings to be passed on and on.
Andie,
I have a Kindle and I like it but in no way does it replace real books. My parents owned a bookstore when I was a child and the handling of real books is always tied in with a lot of good memories for me 🙂 I like the ways books feel and smell too!
I’m with you Andie, I love, love, love my books. You just can’t curl up comfortably with an electronic reading device. It just doesn’t have the same feeling:)