This quote was posted on the Sisters-in-Crime loop recently and I loved it:
"Technology is not a barrier to depth, to engagement, to the cultural discussion, and that perhaps we want the same thing from our reading as we always have, regardless of the form it takes.... The issue is not what we read on, just as the issue is not what we read. The issue is that we read, that we continue to interact with long-form writing; by altering the conditions of the conversation, e-books and e-readers have already served an essential purpose.... This, I think, is what e-books have to offer: the promise of immersion, enhanced or otherwise, just as their analog counterparts have always done."
--David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times book critic, in an essay that will appear in Sunday's print edition of the paper
If you're debating whether or not to get an e-reader, maybe you should wait. It doesn't matter . . . as long as you read.
Some amazing new books, as well as a large number of out of print books, are only available electronically. A Kindle is my best entry into their pages. The application is available free for dozens of venues, but I vastly prefer reading on my Kindle to reading on my computer.
For me? I love my Kindle 3. I gifted my Kindle 2 to my husband, who has yet to finish off his pile of DTBs (Dead Tree Books) to familiarize himself with the wonders and benefits of electronic immersion into words. I'm not worried. He will. And I will continue to read DTBs. Because I love them as well.
It's the words that are important. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. It's the stories. The worlds. The magic.
CR: Skin Deep by Timothy Hallinan on my Kindle
It's all better with friends.
Amen, Sister!
ReplyDeleteMy third mystery, GREEN AS A GARDEN HOSE, was printed on papaer made from kenaf, an easily-renewable source. It's an annual crop plant that grows tall, like bamboo. Since no trees had to die, I suppose my book is a DKB.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, when my publisher was ready to print the next book in the series, kenaf was not available. The price of it, as with so many recycled or environmentally-responsible goods, was apparently too high to keep up the volume needed for the kenaf paper company to survive.
So, only one of my ten books was printed that way. But now all the mysteries are available as ebooks. Thank goodness!