This week I have been thinking a lot about Kindles. Mostly I have been thinking why would a person buy a Kindle? I do understand the allure of thin gadgets. When I first came into contact with an iPhone I immediately started surreptitiously posing with it, making pretend calls and whizzing through the contacts list for no reason. It wasn’t even my phone.
Whilst the iPhone is the natural and sexy successor to bulky Nokias from days of yore, the Kindle is not sexier than books. Hear me out. Is there really anything more amazing looking than a pile of books all higgledy-piggledy? I keep piles of books round my flat as part of my interior design scheme. If I break an ornament I just stick a pile of books in its place.
Books are things of beauty. If someone offered to remove all the art and posters from your home and replace them with a single gadget containing all your pieces in digital form, you would probably say ‘no thank you crazy person’. If the Kindle takes off then what will happen to all the books? Homes will look dry and sterile and you won’t be able to impress guests with your complete set of Muriel Spark novels or a random book on German limewood sculpture that you never even read.
I am not such a superficial person that I only value a book for its cover (and its new book smell, and the ribbon page-marker things, and the joy of cracking the spine for the first time). I also think they are quite practical. Proponents of the Kindle claim that it is less cumbersome, lighter and more ‘user-friendly’ than a book. Well, I’m sorry but we’re not all reading The Count of Monte Cristo in the dark. I tend to take normal-sized books on my commute. That’s why I still haven’t finished Wolf Hall. If you really are the type of person who is going to droop under the weight of a 400 page book then might I suggest a novella? Simonetta Perkins by L P Hartley is both a delightful read and, at 134 grams, is lighter than a Kindle (yes, I weighed it).
A few weeks ago I was randomly looking through some books and when I flicked through Gulliver’s Travels out fell a book review I’d written when I was about 12 (judging from the hand-writing). Wow, I thought, I was a super cool 12-year-old. And also, what will happen when Kindles take over the world? Where will all the embarrassing notes and love letters and chocolate digestive crumbs be stashed?
Clearly this post isn’t about food at all. I just wanted to share my thoughts on Kindles. Here is a picture of a rocky road I made to make up for it. It has stem ginger in it. It’s a bit of a Nigella recipe in that you just melt down chocolate and throw other confectionary in before putting it in the fridge. It’s still delicious.
Melt dark chocolate with some butter and syrup from a jar of stem ginger. Stir in crushed maltesers, mini marshmallows, chopped stem ginger and anything else you fancy (kit kats, dried fruit etc). Pour the mix into a suitable container and refrigerate until set.
I feel as though I’m the only one on the train in the morning who actually reads a “real” book. Kindles, and Nooks, and whatever else is out there have completely taken over. I just don’t see any satisfaction in reading a book for pleasure on a screen when I have to stare at a screen all day anyway for work. x
Ha, I’m so glad my fave americans have both commented! Ingrid, yes!! I totally agree. Sarah, I take your views on board. If I could have spoken to Steve before he bought this for you I would have suggested he actually got you a pair of reading glasses with built-in lights. This would mean you could always read at night without disturbing him and also, you would look really hip. They are very affordable. I recently bought a pair for Camilla Barrington.
P.S. I have no idea what a nook is.
xxx
I thought that too… Until I got one. Steve bought me a nook color for Christmas and it is amazing. Especially for travelling and for reading at night. I no longer have to disturb him with a light on. I am sure that I will miss having books and I will always utilize the public library, but I really have become addicted to the nook.
Ps… I typed this whole message with my iPhone and it took me about 5 minutes to write 4 sentences.
I like a glace cherry in my rocky road, it’s about the only time I do. On top of a coconut macaroon and pineapple upside down cake, more decorative than required though.
There were glace cherries in this one too. I adore them and think they are the best bit of a pineapple upside down cake.
Now, Soph, you know I love the Kindle but I will try not to take this post as a personal attack. I still love books and always will – especially the ones that have nearly all their pages – but in my house. At the moment, I am reading a real book at home and two on my Kindle (one is Allen Carr and doesn’t count). The Kindle will never replace real books, it isn’t meant to – it is what you can carry on a packed tube and still be able to read it when you’re pressed up against a sweaty commuter, something I have never managed to achieved with a paper book. And I am one of those people who cannot deal with carrying large books around – my handbag is too full of emergency items like old tissues, umbrellas and lunchboxes. Kindle is awesome: fact!
Rocky Road looks awesome too.
Phil, of course this isn’t an attack on you, I love you! I am very curious to learn more about your lunchbox. Is this a proper old-school lunch box or just tupperware? We can discuss at length when I next see you. xxx
Daft. There’s room for both. I have in excess of 10,000 books. In my old house I had a library (a converted bedroom, each shelf double layered), plus there were books in every other room of the house. Part of my work as a food writer includes reviewing cookery books. Books are part of the framework of my life, I am instilling this in my children as well – my 1 year old boy spends ages turning the pages of his books (and mine!)
But – priorities change. I am currently in between houses, in a tiny flat with 2 children, which is already stacked out with all my cookery books which I need for work. I simply don’t have space for any more. I use my library regularly, but I prefer to own books mainly because I am an inveterate rereader. So my OH bought me a Kindle for Christmas and it was one of the best things he has ever given me. I am able to indulge in my passion for books at a time when I haven’t the space to store them.
There’s always the question of travel. Not just the tube (I take my Kindle and paperbacks, regularly). But how often have you gone away with a suitcase weighed down with holiday reading. I used to work abroad for part of each winter, in a place where books were extremely hard to come by. If I had had access to a Kindle, I would have saved myself hours of anguish, deciding what to take – and a few quid on excess baggage too.
My Kindle will never replace books for me, but it’s an invaluable device for me at this moment in time.
10,000 books is a lot, you definitely need a Kindle. I take it all back! My post was meant to be fairly light-hearted, not a serious critique. I am enormously jealous of your old library, that sounds wonderful.