Nooks or Books? A review by Book Club Member Nick

 

OK, so I'm reading an eBook for the first time and I wanted to share my thoughts on this digital revolution that's laying into books these days.

A lot of people like to have a downer on eReaders. What I hear most of all is, 'but, you can't beat a proper book!' and let me just tell you that that isn't what's important. What's important is the story, the content, the characters, the ideas and you know, the actual words themselves. Books are just well-produced things that keep the story safe and sound. Until you drop it in the toilet that is!

I've always read from books and that's because, like many of us, its the only thing at hand for good stories. Sure, there are plenty of websites that cater for your story needs such as Readwave and Fanfiction but reading off a screen hurts my eyes after a while and since its connected to the internet I tend to get distracted and watch YouTube videos. That's me anyway. Books are wonderful things but its all we've had, at least us 20th/21st Century boys and girls. The eReader is the next step. But, they do have their problems.

I'm reading 'The Cuckoo's Calling' on a Nook 7" and its great. I thought I wouldn't like it and I admit, using the Nook to begin with felt different, somewhat alien and holding a 'book' that didn't unfold threw me but you get over that quickly. It's not as if I'm reading my favourite book either. If anything, I'm probably reading my most hated book because 'The Cuckoo's Calling' is in a genre I hate the most- crime. The book is great though, to my surprise, it's very good. No, the Nook is really nice, good screen, easy to use and it doesn't take an age to boot up either- a second in fact. Maybe with the more books installed that will change but at the moment, it is joyous. Nooks, like all eReaders though do have their problems. One of which is that it will run out of power and although battery life is quite good, it still needs recharging. Not a back breaker but books might just be the only source of entertainment (for me anyway) that doesn't require power. If there's a blackout then no lights are a problem but nothing a candle can't cure. Just don't light the pages on fire. It might just be me but reading from the Nook does give me a little headache (diddums!), mind you, spending an hour or two on Xbox Live with my mates probably doesn't help.

I do prefer a book though. I like the texture and I reckon one of the biggest 'unspoken' reasons why we prefer books is because that's how we've always consumed our novels. Give it a hundred years and I'll bet you, I'll bet you the seesaw will tilt towards the eBook and then everybody will prefer the eBook. Then, some people may collect books like some still collect vinyl. The future truly is a wonderful thing.

Other than those small things, eReaders are wonderful little things and to moan about how eReaders may eventually kill off the book is as pointless as wishing you were younger. Things change. Look at the music industry. There were vinyls, then CDs (maybe something before CDs) then downloads and now it seems worthless to purchase a CD when downloads are much cheaper. Like downloads though, eBooks' biggest quality I think is space and if you're anything like me, you may find that your space for CDs and books is declining by day and when you see more paperbacks than carpet on the floor then a Kindle, Kobo or whatever is going to be a godsend. I'm not particularly interested with keeping physical collections anymore (with music at least) so I do spend more time purchasing downloads but I always love keeping a book collection. There will come a time when I'll purchase an eReader but until then, I'll keep stepping over my floor-bound books and use shoe boxes as storage for them as well.