i've been noticing something disturbing on my commute lately, something that turns my stomach, depresses me and makes me wonder what will become of the world.the something i've been noticing is: Amazon Kindle.
i will tell you why it sends me to the depths of despair: i love books. actual books. books with a spine, books with a hard cover, even library books with cellophane covers that crinkle when you open them. i love the weight of a book in my hands, i love the smell of the pages, i really love when a book's pages are uncut. i love wandering through bookstores and taking in the sight of thousands of books on the shelves, i love the possibility it inspires in me. i love the sight of all the books i've read on my own shelves. i love imagining floor-to-ceiling shelves in my home office someday, full of all the books i've read and books i hope to read—maybe books i've written.
Kindle takes all of that away. i'm afraid that more and more people will buy Kindle and actual books, physical books, will go the way of record albums. i'm afraid that my first book will be published and i won't have the satisfaction of going into a store and gazing at it on the shelf.
i don't understand why people would buy Kindle, to be honest. most people go to work and stare at a computer screen all day. then you go home and stare at a television screen or an iPod screen or a laptop screen. do people really want to stare at yet another screen instead of picking up a made-of-paper, easy-on-the-eyeballs, wonderful perfect little book?
i was contemplating all of this on my way to work this morning, as i held Alice Munro's Selected Stories in paperback. i've been re-reading short stories of hers lately that i haven't read in years (amazing how much more i appreciate them now) and today i was caught up in "Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You," what i believe is quite possibly one of the most brilliant short stories ever written. as i neared the end of the story, i was flipping back to the beginning, skimming over the middle, re-reading paragraphs, taking in the structure of the story, the transitions between past and present, all the nuances.
i can't imagine that's half as enjoyable on Kindle.
i know i'm a big book nerd, and maybe three other people on the planet would agree with me about this, but i had to vent anyway. i can't imagine books are that inconvenient that people need to buy them digitally and read them on a weird-looking, battery-operated device. you couldn't exactly bring your record player on the airplane or a car ride or to the park. MP3 players make sense. but books? they're so transportable! they're so convenient!
they're so wonderful. please save them.
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