Do you retain your love of books or do you prefer your Kindle?

You are exactly right.
All I need is a good book,my Morris chair,a cup of tea and a poolboy.

Never had a kindle and I don’t think I will ever have it. I love holding the book myself and flipping the pages :)
And some hot chocolate under a cosy sofa :)

I still prefer the tactile experience of books, particularly long ones. That said, I’ve read some pretty lengthy tomes on my Kindle lately. As long as you don’t have to flip around to refresh your memory about something that happened a while ago (cough cough Tolstoy cough), a Kindle is a great way to read. Personally, I’ve been traveling a lot lately and the Kindle is amazing for travelers. You can buy books in about 60 countries, and it doesn’t take up nearly as much space. The only problem there is you can’t use it during the first 10 minutes of flight.

So basically, I’ve all but switched to the Kindle for most of my pleasure reading. It’s easy, I like the way the text appears, a charge lasts for weeks and I can take it anywhere.

I prefer real books.E-books take aways some things about reading that make it special. Same goes with CDs. I like to own albums.

I dont like books for many reasons. One they can tend to rip and miss pages, Two, if its a big book your reading it gets annoying, Three, if you get it from the local library it could miss pages and it will be all gross, Four, you have to have a book mark all the time to keep its place: The Kindle stays on the page itself when you turn it off. BUT all in all I love love love to read, so I asked my mom for a kindle, its alot less work you ask me.

Books.

I love holding and reading the real thing and probably always will, but I do have a Kindle (got it for a long plane flight) and am liking it. A tip: If you buy a Kindle (and I think it’s the best of all the dedicated e-readers), spring for the well-designed Kindle case. It makes the device feel more like a book and easier to hold.

I recently acquired a Kindle. And I own thousands of books. I like the Kindle for several reasons, not the least of which is 1) the portability of a large quantity of books 2) the amount of books that are available for free 3) the ability to acquire a book at 4:30 am, which seems to be when I’m most interested in reading these days.

There are a vast number of books that to me are “throw away” books. I will read them once, and then never pick them up again. I will not refer back to them for any reason. I may lend them out, but I never want them to find their way home again. For this type of reading, the Kindle is perfect.

The other nice thing about the Kindle is the consistency of the font size and that it’s a sans serif face. It seems that every paperback version of a classic that I own is in a serif face in 8 point font, with a tight line spacing. It’s almost impossible to track across the page in a paperback. I like that it comes with two dictionaries, and that you can make notes as you read.

I love that it’s not backlit. I use Google Scholar and Books a lot, and reading on a backlit screen is miserable. I tried reading on an iPad, and found the weight and size disconcerting, as well as the lighting.

I don’t think it’s a one or the other choice.

All my books are packed up right now but I can’t wait to be in my new home and relax with a real book in the sun room and a cup of espresso.

I love the feel of a book, the smell of a book, using my favourite bookmark, and turning the pages.
Just wouldn’t be interested in the Kindle.

I love books. I love to read them, to own them, to display them. Books and book history have long fascinated me (and, hopefully, next year I’ll be able to take a course in book history!).

I asked a while ago for recommendations on e-readers, and ended up buying a Kobo. I like it a lot – it feels more like reading a book than reading on a computer screen. It’s small, which makes reading a giant tome (currently George R. R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords) more comfortable. I like that I can carry all the books I need for school in one little device. I love that the Toronto Public Library has a super awesome free e-book lending system. I love that e-books are cheaper than paper copies, which is super great for a student.

That being said, I won’t stop buying paper copies of some books. Books by my favourite authors will always be paper, not least because an e-book can’t be signed by the author :)
One of my school libraries sells used books that they’re purging from the school library system for $0.50 apiece, and I’ll still browse the table every other day. My e-reader won’t replace paper books by any means, but it’s definitely convenient for toting school readings around and for what I call “fluff reading”.

I adore books. I never thought I would want an e-reader, but it turns out that I like my Nook quite a bit. They are almost like two completely different things somehow. I have 11 books checked out from the library right now and have also purchased a couple of books since getting my Nook.

E-readers are good for instruction manuals, text books, and other types of books that people do not collect or really want to read. lol

I have zero interest in owning a Kindle, or anything similar. I love to hold a book, I love the smell and the feel… as mentioned above. It is a multi-sensory experience. I also get such a great pleasure out of owning a good book. My book collection is not especially large, but it is cherished.

If I could only choose one I’d choose real books. But I do get a lot of use out of my Nook. It’s a bit like an iPod in that I can carry a large library with me wherever I go. If I’m away somewhere on a beach and there is a book online that interests me I can just download it. It’s especially nice to bring to work in that I’m not hauling some 800-page, five-pound hardbound book with me. With all that I still don’t see myself ever abandoning physical books.

While I read a ton of ebooks on my netbook (and would never shell out extra money for a dedicated ebook reader), I prefer them in solid paper form. Not only is there the plain old aesthetic quality to it, but electronics just run out of battery power too fast (particularly around me; I’m starting to think I’m electromagnetically charged or something).

@BarnacleBill did a fantastic job of explaining the beauty of the Kindle.

Where I live, independent bookstores close around 5:00, and I have trouble putting up with Borders at 10 pm. So it’s great to browse online and have a book instantly. This is especially true on the road. Most books you read aren’t classics, so there’s no point in buying the paper. As long as the author is making at least as much on a Kindle purchase as on a regular purchase, I see no downside.

I still love the look and feel of actual books, but I do love the convenience of my Kindle. There are some series and books that I will always get in print, because I feel they are good to have. Other books that I’m reading for a quick read, I’ll get on my Kindle so I can read them and be done with them.

I have a habit of reading a book from cover to cover in one sitting sometimes (a lot of the time), so the Kindle really helps keep me from having a lot of books lying around, especially with how much we move.

One specific thing I enjoy about the Nook is when I read the first book in a series and like it so much I want the next book immediately. I have also discovered some free, out of copyright gems that I had never heard of.

@TheOnlyNeffie – couldn’t agree more. Technology will never replace the love of books. And this is coming from a complete techie, dorky, gadget-loving gal. I love any form of media, drool over my two best-in-the-market cell phones and still would never replace books. Since I moved a lot, I had to give away many of my books (donated to the public library, especially. Like my beloved Portland, OR one), so I also would agree that I might not have many, but they are all well loved. I don’t buy books, I adopt them. :)

I still buy books from bookshops and I use my local library. I may get a Kindle one day but it will never entirely replace my books.

I don’t see it as an either/or either. So far I do not have a n e-reader because I am waiting for the perfect fusion of iPad touch screen, Kindle e-ink and Nook color and lightness, but I will get one soon. I love dem dusty pages but an e-Reader will have its use on those flights to Florida especially if I can Fluther on it in the airport as well.

I love good old fashion books, but I wouldn’t mind getting a Kindle, as it can hold many more books and I can take it everywhere. I often read more than one book at once, so a Kindle or Nook would be good for me, but I also love the feel of turning pages, and I like the smell of paper a lot (go figure).

I don’t think I could ever get into reading books on a screen. Reading bits of things online is bad enough as it is. I love the sense of tangibility of real books. I like how they smell, how they feel in my hand and the fact that they are actually there.

I fear that I may be forced, at sometime, to read my books on a screen. I’m not looking foward to that day (although I do see the convenience factor). But I get most of my books for free at the library, or pay very little for them at thrift stores and garage sales, then I trade with friends and relatives. They are not so dear that if you dropped one that you would have just lost hundreds of dollars (and your collection). Plus you never have to worry that the battery on your book will run out or that you might encounter technical difficulties.

I love the smell of a used book store. That slight musty odor and the feel of embossed covers gives me a deeper connection to the written word.
That said, my shoulders are grateful that many textbooks are electronic now.

@lucillelucillelucille I’ll be your poolboy. Just saying.

you cannot compare curling up with a good book and curling up with a kindle. it sounds too robotic.
I love the adventure at the bookstore and the library.
A quick look inside, front and back cover read.
The ability to have a few books in different places.
no worry about falling asleep with a book falling out of my grasp and onto the floor.
I never had to find a battery or charger for my book.
I cant place my kindle over my face to fall asleep in either.

@blueiiznh How very true. Love your answer :)