My new books are fairly evenly split between ebooks and paper books. I enjoy reading both pretty equally.
I can't see myself getting rid of the paper library - I've done a cull a couple of times in the past decade and ultimately I wish I hadn't. I like having the books around.
My offspring is quite likely to see paper books as a throwback, though - at least to his parents' day, possibly to his grandparents'.
Whilst I have only read (in full) about 80% of my many books (excess of 2000, although have read many more in my life) a lot of them are kept for reference reasons. They are classic texts on mythology, religion, alchemy and things with very little 'new ideas one has to absorb immediately' (ref: Comp Sci texts).
I have a particular fetish towards the finely crafted art quality of many of the books I own, and personally I find I struggle to read properly from digital formats, they are merely used (when I can find a valid digital copy of a book I own) for ensuring I don't have to type out quotes by hand.
Plus, I don't have to turn on a device, or charge it, or upgrade it when I want to read a book. I take it off the shelf and start reading ;)
Moving them around however, is a seriously painful experience. Hence why, things dropped behind shelves, tend to stay there for 5 years at a time ;)
Admittedly I also continue to write my daily items (mostly journaling) with a fountain pen and in Moleskine notebooks. These do get transcribed weekly, but I like to be able to write, where and whenever I may be.
Oh definitely keeping things like Kubisch & Seger's "Ornaments." I'm more torn about things like my complete collection of the works of Alastair Reynolds, in shiny black paperbacks.
My devices are always on, so that's no great burden, but I am going to have to be careful about ensuring I can retain access.
Ease of moving is a definite factor. I want to be considerably more mobile than I currently am.
I am not reading digitally for books, but I am tending to keep only those that are ones that I will re read, and which are not easily available from libraries etc.
i'm not a fan of ebooks, as i have to wear my glasses to read them, but i can curl up sans-specs with a paper book just fine. So that's my number one reason.
#2 is that i cannot throw out a book. I literally cannot. My mother ended up locking me in the bathroom to cull out all my old babysitter's club and chronicles of pern books to take to Elizabeth's -- I knew they had to go find new readers, but I could not do it myself.
thirdly, i love the look of books. i love pretty covers and the gloss of art books and the ragged spines of my favourites and the dust of old secondhand paperbacks. it's a visceral need.
fourth, they're FANTASTIC insulation when stacked against the walls :)
Reading the words of eBooks I find fine, but I'm still missing feeling by the thickness of the piles of paper how far through the book I am (1/3? 3/4? ) - a scroll bar just isn't the same.
That was helpful of your mother. I do recall verging some artefact or other in the lead up to our last move, and told myself I'd rescue it if it was still there after when I came back from coffee (it wasn't).
I love the shiny black and iridescent silver covers of my Reynolds collection, but they're looking very much for the chop at the moment. The art books however are another matter. I've got some nice big doorstops of Victorian ornaments and the like :)
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I can't see myself getting rid of the paper library - I've done a cull a couple of times in the past decade and ultimately I wish I hadn't. I like having the books around.
My offspring is quite likely to see paper books as a throwback, though - at least to his parents' day, possibly to his grandparents'.
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I have a particular fetish towards the finely crafted art quality of many of the books I own, and personally I find I struggle to read properly from digital formats, they are merely used (when I can find a valid digital copy of a book I own) for ensuring I don't have to type out quotes by hand.
Plus, I don't have to turn on a device, or charge it, or upgrade it when I want to read a book. I take it off the shelf and start reading ;)
Moving them around however, is a seriously painful experience. Hence why, things dropped behind shelves, tend to stay there for 5 years at a time ;)
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My devices are always on, so that's no great burden, but I am going to have to be careful about ensuring I can retain access.
Ease of moving is a definite factor. I want to be considerably more mobile than I currently am.
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#2 is that i cannot throw out a book. I literally cannot. My mother ended up locking me in the bathroom to cull out all my old babysitter's club and chronicles of pern books to take to Elizabeth's -- I knew they had to go find new readers, but I could not do it myself.
thirdly, i love the look of books. i love pretty covers and the gloss of art books and the ragged spines of my favourites and the dust of old secondhand paperbacks. it's a visceral need.
fourth, they're FANTASTIC insulation when stacked against the walls :)
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That was helpful of your mother. I do recall verging some artefact or other in the lead up to our last move, and told myself I'd rescue it if it was still there after when I came back from coffee (it wasn't).
I love the shiny black and iridescent silver covers of my Reynolds collection, but they're looking very much for the chop at the moment. The art books however are another matter. I've got some nice big doorstops of Victorian ornaments and the like :)
My neighbours insulate me, but I see your point!
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