A few weeks ago my Dad and I were discussing the decline of the book and subsequent rise of the eReader. He looked at me and said "There are the people who love to read and then there are the people who love books." Why had I never realized that before? Of course it's true, but I had never recognized the distinction.
I have spent my life surrounded by readers. I have millions of memories of my Dad, in at least half of them (probably more) he has a book in his hand. Dinner's were spent listening to my dad and sister talk about books and stories they had read. Although my Mom rarely read for entertainment, she spent a lot of time with her head buried in a book, furthering her knowledge. Everytime we would visit my Aunt we would leave with a paper bag (or two) full of books that had been passed around our family. Books were comfortable, they were somewhere to get lost and found at the same time.
I will never forget the moment I bought the book that turned me into a reader. I was eight years old and we were at Meadowbrook Mall in Pittsburg, KS for one of our many trips to Waldenbooks. I loved these trips with my Dad, we would pick out a book then go to Baskin Robbins for ice cream (typically a double scoop of vanilla and strawberry). While sitting on the floor of the tiny store, perusing the small selection of Independent Reader books, I stumbled across Noel Streatfield's Gemma. While the book has been passed off as unremarkable and even messy, I fell in love with it. I devoured the other three books in the series and was sad to see Gemma say Goodbye to her cousins in the final book. For the first time I understood what it meant to really immerse yourself in a book, to fall in love with the characters and long for more. It was the day I fell in love with reading.
I am constantly looking for a book that will have that impact on Izzy and once we find it, I will begin searching for Eli's then Emmy's. It is so important to me that my kids know what it feels like to get lost in a book. To be able to leave everything behind and escape to another place, another time, another world. However, as brick and mortar bookstores struggle to stay in business I fear my kids will never have a moment like mine. They may never have the opportunity to experience the moment where they find THE book that will make them fall desperately in love with reading and that terrifies me.
I do recognize the pull of the eReader. They are convenient and they hold a lot of books in one place. As a reader, I get how irritating it can be to lug 3 or 4 different books on a trip, or even worse to finish a book on a plane (or a car in the middle of Iowa) and not have another to start. However, I cannot imagine a world without the ability to curl up on a cold winter night, tucked under a blanket, with a good book. I can't imagine losing the ability to run to my local Borders and grab that new release I have been waiting months for; the sound of the binding as it's opened for the first time, the smell of the paper and ink, the feel of the paper as I turn the page. These are the things I would miss, these are the things that my children could miss.
Therefore, I am making a declaration right here, right now... I am on team book. In my epic battle of the world of books vs. the world of eReaders, books win. In the perfectly written words of my dear friend, S, "I'll be reading actual books when I'm 80 and people will think I'm eccentric." I'm okay being the batty old lady on the corner who still reads those crazy paper books.
Sit back and really think about it... Do you love to read or do you love books? Some of you are thinking that it's the same thing, but is it? Is it really?
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