I've owned a Kindle for a year or two (I really can’t remember exactly – that’s
how important it has been in my life) but hadn't read much on it. Then when
I flew to Tucson for a six weeks’ stay I opted to take my Kindle instead of
real books. I started reading quite a few books on it and actually finished
reading some of them. Over the six weeks I learned several things about what I
like and dislike about ebooks.
First
of all, when purchasing ebooks, I no longer buy nonfiction. A great limitation
of the Kindle is the enormous difficulty of flipping back through pages to
re-read something. I know, the reader can bookmark a passage for easy
retrieval, but how does one know in advance which part one might want to refer
back to? I’ve started several nonfiction books such as a biography of Winston
Churchill but haven’t finished any of them. I’ve bought two or three cookbooks
but haven’t even opened them.
Consequently,
for me only fiction is appropriate for ebooks, and not even all of that. A
historical novel, for example, probably contains maps and/or family trees. In a
real book one can put a bookmark on the map and easily flip back and forth
between the text and the map. That is
too awkward with the Kindle. What’s more, on the Kindle the maps are too small
to read.
Finally,
I’ve observed again and again that self-published ebooks are badly in need of
editing. The author of a book I recently started and abandoned used many words
inappropriately, such as “when I eclipsed the gate…” How does one eclipse a
gate, I ask you. These authors usually do not understand the difference between
“set,” “sat,” and sit. They don’t know how to use pronouns such as “I” and “me”
correctly. Sorry, I was an English major in college and these failings in an
author make me lose interest in what he has to say.
Not
all my Kindle reading has been in vain. I’ve discovered a couple of authors who
are both entertaining and literate. Julie Smith, in her series featuring a
six-foot policewoman in New Orleans, spins a good yarn evoking the taste,
smell, and sights of that doomed city.
In
the end, there’s simply no substitute for a hardback book, held perhaps with
one finger marking a previous page. There’s no need to turn it off before you
fall asleep, either. It will be right there, possibly with a rumpled page or
two, resting on your chest open to the right page when you wake up.
I
won’t discard my Kindle, but it is mothballed until the next time I travel.
Copyright 2015 by Shirley Domer
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