Kindle vs. Books? The debate that split the booknerds...

There is something unique about the experience of reading a book. You can spend hours flicking through the ergonomically displayed covers on the shelves of your favourite bookstore before finding the perfect title. You pay for your book, engaging in the customary debate with the cashier over whether "The Fault in our Stars" book to movie transition was better than "The Perks of being a Wallflower". At first all you do is stare at the book on your shelf, not sure whether to crack the spine and dog ear the pages just yet. You finally capitulate and spend the next four hours in whatever world you chose before your mother comes in with the usual "I thought you just bought that book!"

Yes, Kindles are impersonal, they cannot be used as coasters, written in, drawn on etc. These experiences are something the Kindle could never replace. While there is nothing like having a real book in your hands, the Kindle does have one advantage. It allows you to buy out of print books.

My first purchase on my Kindle was "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins. Having devoured "The Hunger Games" trilogy, I was eager to get my hands on anything else Collins had written. I was extremely disappointed to find out that "The Underland Chronicles" was out of print until I bought my kindle and soon after the entire series of books.

While nothing will replace the wrinkled pages of the time you accidentally dropped your book in the bath or the hastily scrawled notes in the margins of "Hamlet", don't turn your purist nose up at a Kindle immediately, it might be the only way to access certain books.

Shoutout to Cath for being awesome :D

Live Long and Prosper internet

izzy