Why is it that we love books so much? Is it the solid feel of them in our hands? The cover art? The new-book smell? The old-book smell? Is it being able to tell how far we’ve read into the book (and how much is left) without even looking? Is it that they can be read anywhere, without batteries or technology of any kind? Is it that our eyes get tired from screen reading in a way that they don’t from reading ink on paper? Is it that we can continue to read our printed book on an airplane during those times when digital devices must be turned off? Is it that we actually own printed books (not just the right to read them), and can put them on a bookshelf when we’ve read them, or lend them or swap them?
For us, it’s all of those things! And we’re clearly not alone: publishers are again reporting a significant fall in ebook sales, while the sales of print books continue to rise, for the second year in a row.
We have nothing against ebooks — we think any kind of reading is great! We know that ebooks have their conveniences (for example, they’re lightweight to pack for travel, and the ability to enlarge the font can be useful for visually impaired readers). But we’re glad they haven’t replaced the real thing. Because we love the real thing so much. Don’t you?
We bet you do! In fact, we’re inviting you to tell us the one main reason why you love print books … if you do, you’ll have a chance to win a free book! The book is a brand-new hardcover of a very heavily wishlisted book — the New York Times Bestseller Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll.
Luckiest Girl Alive
by
Jessica Knoll
ISBN 9781476789637, Hardcover
A young woman is determined to create the perfect life — husband, home, and career—until a violent incident from her past threatens to unravel everything and expose her most shocking secret of all. A riveting debut novel that reads like Prep meets Gone Girl, described by Reese Witherspoon as “one of those reads you just can’t put down!” This book currently has over 400 active wishes in the club.
Make a comment below before noon ET on Friday, May 27, 2016, and that will enter you into the random drawing to receive the book. NB: Contest open to PaperBackSwap members only (join here!).
Here are a few comments from some of our members to get you thinking:
“There are too many awesome bookmarks out there to never use them! I have some really old ones passed down from family members that make me smile every time I see them. You don’t get to use those bookmarks with ebooks!” ~ Jill H.
“It’s very nice to be able to pass a book around the family before I swap it.” ~ Rick M. (RickMatt)
“I really prefer to hold a physical book, and the feel of the pages as I am turning them.” ~ Diane G. (icesk8tr)
“I like the feel of a real book 📚. I find them easier to read and not as hard on my eyes 👀 as an e reader.” ~ Angela H. (Halti4)
Tags: Book Suggestions, Contests, PBS Market
When I wake up in the morning I like to look at my bookshelves and think about all the adventures that are awaiting me within their pages. There will be romance, trips to foreign lands, drama, excitement, fear, anger and laughter when I flip the pages and explore the joys of each novel. My books take me to places in my imagination and I like to hug them while I savor the ride. A REAL book is a priceless treasure that I can feel with my fingers, my mind and my heart.
I’vealways loved books and am usually reading 2or 3 at a time. I admit that the cover art gets me! If it is visually interesting, I’m hooked!
I love the feel of a book in my hands, the turning of pages. Being able to set it down and pick it back up to read more. I just love a book in my hands.
Books are a gateway to worlds one can visit any time just by reading. They shape our lives and thoughts and education. I love books because of all these reasons as well as all the ones mentioned in the PBS newsletter. What a bereft world it would be without books.
Not just any physical book, a used book with a life of its very own that you feel clinging to the pages caressed by other hands, that you inhale from its own breath as the pages flutter by under your light touch, messages from the past, recent or distant. A bond with others, known or not, past or future.
I grew up in Europe and even as a young child loved the sense of history which was all around me. It’s the reason I love the smell of solid wood furniture, all things old, sleep in an antique bed and wonder how many had it before me–and LOVE real books. It’s a lot about the tactile relationship, and knowing the history of how books came about, the fact that only the rich or church hierarchy had them–how very precious those early books were when they were passed around or loaned out from person to person. I LOVE passing books on, teaching youngsters how to read, bringing the joy of reading to kids who didn’t even like to read before, and I always give them a special book I picked just for them. No ebook feels right in my big green chair by my fireplace at night. When I retired I bought myself A BIG READING CHAIR, and can’t wait each evening to pick up and HOLD a real book in my hands and sink into some period of history.
There’s something about the weight of a book that calls to me. Even a slim paperback has a weight and that weight makes me feel connected to the contents. A big, fat novel is a full meal while a slim paperback is a quick snack. They both have their place and are both nourishing to the soul.
There is so much that goes into the physical feeling of a book. The weight of it, the glossy cover, the feeling of pages riffling between my fingers. But then there is the actual use of the book, being able to have it signed right there on my favorite page by my favorite author if I’m lucky enough to attend one of their signings. If I read the book enough, it opens automatically to my favorite sections or the places where I’ve stopped to copy a quote from it into a notebook or show a passage to a friend.
I can lend them out.
I love to see my books on the shelves. All I have to do is look at the cover of my favorite books and I am instantly taken to another time and place, just for a moment, where I don’t have a care in the world.
I have always admired what John F Kennedy Jr. said when he talked about his mother passing “surrounded by her friends, her family, her books and the things she loved.” There is something physically comforting about the presence of books. I am always drawn to any bookshelves wherever I happen to be, and feel a home without books is empty somehow. Not to mention, I could never imagine reading my granddaughters anything else.
I didn’t really understand how important it was to me to be able to tell by looking how much I have left to read, until I read an ebook and REALLY missed that. A percentage doesn’t give me that same feeling.
I was just thinking about this recently when I got a new kindle. I actually just wrote in my journal that the only real bonuses (to me) in e-readers/e-books is the compactness and storage but when I use my e-reader I miss the smell of the paper most of all, especially with older books. I also can’t read in the sun with an e-reader. I know they sell glare screen protectors but it also causes a bit of distortion. I also like to write my thoughts on sticky notes and stick them on the pages of the book. Then later when I’m reading it again I find it and it always makes me smile. The biggest of all reasons why real books are better than electronic books is that I can share it or give it away without any time limits unless I make them myself.
I’ve tried reading ebooks and have downloaded several, telling myself ebooks are great. But after starting at least 2 I just couldn’t make myself stay with them. I agree with all the reasons you gave in the blarticle but, for me, I love have my own “real” library in my house. I buy books everywhere: flea markets, yard sales, library sales and even book stores and having all those wonderful stories just waiting for me makes me happy. When I finish a book and decide to either keep it or post it on PBS I can then browse my library for my next read. Do I want ficton or non, do I want history or contemporary, do I want funny or serious…it’s all there, just waiting for me to pick one. Yep, real books for me.
My bookcases by no means reflect all of the books I’ve read, but they contain those that mean the most to me and in one way or another have informed and formed the person that I have become. Just as we are what we eat, so we are what we read to a great extent. That which spurs our imagination, expands our understanding and deepens our empathy helps us to become better friends, better citizens and better humans. A glance over those shelves is like taking a walk back through time. I hope to live long enough to read everything on my bookshelves – I would love to live long enough to read them all again!
I love books because I can hold them in my hands. In addition, it’s always a pleasure to share a print book with a friend.
I love the fact that you own the right to the book with gives you the ability to keep, sell or swap a book when you have finished it.
I love paperbacks. I read them in bed and often fall asleep reading…if a paperback hits me in the head it doesn’t leave a mark like my iPad does :). Plus, I love the feel of a real book. I’ve tried a couple of ebooks but it’s just not the same.
I love that everyone I run into can see what book I’m reading. It can be a conversation starter in a crowded waiting room or be a note to self for a book that looks interesting. Can an e-book do that??
I like hard copy books because I can put them on my shelf and know they will be there to reference or enjoy later. If I own it and it goes out of print I can still read it. If it’s no longer popular or politically correct and electronic copies are unavailable it won’t matter if I have a “real” book in my library at home. And honestly, my phone and iPad just don’t bring the same joy as holding a book and feeling the pages as I turn them.
I love the way the dry paper feels when I run my fingertips on the rough edges. I love the smell of books and the faint scent of ink or something left behind. I love the heft of a thick tome in my lap when I fall asleep in a chair. I love the words, the sentences, the letters as they flow together on the page. And best of all, I like to be able to re-read something that I just read, just so I can linger on the beauty of the words and enjoy them one more time before continuing with a story.
I like being able to turn the pages. I don’t have to worry about making sure the computer is charged before I want to start reading. Books require no electricity and are always available and ready to go when you want to read. I love being able to pick up a book and start reading even out in the sunlight.
I love the feel of a well made book. Nothing can compare to opening a new book and and slowly turning the pages with your hand and feeling the paper and smelling the new ink.
I enjoy seeing all of my books on the shelves and knowing that I can take one down to share with a friend. I like when friends come over and and they always have to look to see what books are on my shelves. Great way to share new books and have interesting conversations about ones we have read.
When I hold a book, I feel as though I am in the presence of the author who is speaking to me.
I started reading as a child of 4, and have read almost every day since then, only interrupted last year after suffering a stroke during aortic disection repair, and subsequent coma. My family made sure I had plenty of books to read after I woke…and books are a daily part of my therapy.
The main reason I love the printed book is that at a glance, I know what I’m reading, how much is left, who the author is, and oh what a beautiful cover. Half the time when I’m reading an ebook, I don’t even know what the title of the book is. And that’s pretty sad.
I have never even purchased a device just to read on it. I have looked at the list of titles and read some of the excerpts online, but the turning of the page, I missed. I have never purchased one to read on my phone. I might some day, try to read one on a device, but I’m just not there, yet. I can’t imagine a Harry Potter book as an ebook. The artwork and the feel of turning the first pages as it all unfolds, nothing is like that. Got to love the real deal, a book, not just a story.
I can’t imagine a world without physical books to touch, turn pages, underline, pass on, or just have by my beside. It’s easier on my eyes to read the words on a page of paper instead of the computer screen.
I love snuggling up in bed with a book and a flashlight!
I “tag” passages of fiction & non-fiction alike with 3/8 & 3/4 inch color stickers.
The 3/4s come in 10 colors: 4,200 peel-able & mark-able[add a note!] for only a few dollars at Amazon–
Under 1/10 cent each!–“Garage Sale Pup”.
I let a few millimeters stick out of side or top of book, so I can see them.
I use Blues for ideas, Yellows for quotes, Violets for top-priority,etc
All of what the others have said above – the touch, the feel, turning the pages, and besides which they all look so great lined up on bookshelves!
I love the physical attributes that tell me so much about the book even before I open it: the size, the thickness, the weight, the color of the outside, whether it’s paperback or hardback, the font of the words on the cover, the pictures on the cover. A lot of times I will pass up a book on a shelf or pick it up to explore further just based on those things. I have had pretty good luck using those physical criteria to make a quick, almost instantaneous, determination of whether there’s any chance I might enjoy the book, even before I read anything inside it.
When I am reading a book, I sometimes go back and read earlier pages again to refresh my memory on details I may have missed. I know it is possible to page back on my e-reader, but it always seems like too much work. To go back in a real book is easy.
A book never needs to be charged because it has run down its battery. A print book recharges you.
One reason among many is that I can quickly and easily put my paper books in categories. I can tell which are in my reading pile(s). Not so easy with an electronic book, at least not on the device I have.
I’ve owned and iPad since 2010 and a Kindle since 2013 but I’ve never read a complete book on either of them because I find that I just can’t concentrate or feel like I’m “really reading” when I use them. I find myself easily distracted by other things when I try to read a book on a screen. However, when I read a paperbound book, I’m easily lost in the words, sometimes for hours, with little awareness of what’s going on around me. I don’t know why this is, but it happens time and time again when I try to read on a device and never when I’m reading a paperbound book.
They do not need to be recharged, so I can read them anywhere.
I love the feel of holding a real book. Plus a book never needs to be re charged. I also share books with three friends. Once I’ve read the book I pass it along so my friends can enjoy them as much as I did. Once they are done I post the books to Paperback Swap so others can enjoy them as well.
The books on my shelf are like travel stickers on a well worn trunk; they are the indicators of an exciting and meandering journey through this world, through its cultures, and through its combined imaginations and dreams. The trip of a lifetime is a lifetime and a heart full of wonder is the prize.
I always have one in my purse since I’m always waiting for someone…to finish practice, get off the bus, pick up a friend, doctor’s appointments, etc…and no connection or data needed and best of all, I can collect and share them. Thanks for being here PBS!
“Real” books have been an escape and a comfort to me from my early years. I’ve never lost that feeling, and holding a book and looking forward to the content has remained a constant in my life.
Opening a book physically is like opening a door to an undiscovered room. It is so satisfying to explore it and leave behind the cares of everydayness.
A real book never loses its charge and I don’t have to carry the charger around and find a place to plug it in. But I do have an e-reader as well as a love of the printed book.
I always have a book handy to read while waiting…especially during commercials on T.V. If I get engrossed in a book, I just hit rewind on my DVR to catch up on a program.
While I do own a kindle, more than once one of my children has found it and damaged it. I’m surprised it still works! I don’t have to worry if a book I’m reading gets tossed in the floor by a small child.
I also prefer printed books because of the lack of eye strain.
The greatest thing to me about print books is that they can be shared!
I like the feel of a real book and the convenience of it! I have read books on my iPad but still find I like real books better! I have tons in my TBR pile!!
There is nothing in the world quite like the anticipation of opening a book, unless it is a kiss from a grandchild. Books have been my best friend, my anchor, my life line, my dream and my great love since I opened my first one.
I like to see pick up a book, see where my bookmark is…the thickness of the number of pages before and after its placement. This is somehow more satisfying to my soul than a percentage listed at the bottom of my e-reader page.
As far back as I can remember, I have loved books. They have opened up the world to me. In grade school, I would have every new book in the classroom read within two months. As a Navy brat, we moved a lot and the first thing I looked for was the library. I would take home as many as they would let me each time. By the time I was in Junior High, I had a book with me everywhere I went, in my pocket or purse. As soon as I finished a test, out came the book. Even now, at 72, I check to make sure I have a book in my purse when I go somewhere. I am usually reading from 2 to 4 at a time, so one is always nearby! One of my favorite treats has always been to go out for breakfast or dinner – just me and my book.
I love to turn pages of paper without the light of ebooks !