Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Oh people who are all nobby about books

389 replies

LordPalmerston · 27/10/2013 12:27

"Oh I love a real book". "I can see how much ice got left". Oh fgs ebooks are way better one handed reading. Easy storage. Easy to buy and HUGE FONT option for when you've forgotten your glasses or are drunk

Why do people go into mini orgasm about paper ?

OP posts:
BeScarefulWhatYouWitchFor · 27/10/2013 12:57

I like real books. I don't have a kindle, partially because I can't afford one and partially because they don't appeal to me.

It wouldn't occur to me to start slagging people off who wax lyrical about them though.

LadyintheRadiator · 27/10/2013 12:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PacificDogwood · 27/10/2013 12:58

Grin @ sniffing certain 'flavours' of books

I always reread books I liked or that stay with me a long time. Both paper books and ebooks.

Original poster
LordPalmerston · 27/10/2013 12:58

Well that's true too. I have a paper book I want to read kicking about but dread reading it because it's paper.

I never thought I would get like that.

OP posts:
PacificDogwood · 27/10/2013 12:58

The whole 'real' books vs ebooks is a bit of a non-issue: 'tis the content wot matters, non?

Original poster
LordPalmerston · 27/10/2013 12:59

Or functionality.

OP posts:
LadyintheRadiator · 27/10/2013 13:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Heartbrokenmum73 · 27/10/2013 13:01

Functionality has bugger all to do with it though. I wouldn't buy a book based on how functional it is, it IS the content that matters.

reup · 27/10/2013 13:01

Is a paperwhite touch screen? Doing all the clicking and arrows feels old fashioned after touch screens everywhere.

Original poster
LordPalmerston · 27/10/2013 13:03

So. And that after you read the sample the book you buy doesn't jump to the end of the sample. That's annoying

OP posts:
theDudesmummy · 27/10/2013 13:03

On Amazon when you buy a CD you also get the ability to download all the tracks whenever, to wherever you want. It would be nice if it was like that with books!

mignonnette · 27/10/2013 13:04

I re-read all the time. I have thousands of books all loved. I have a few hundred on my Kindle.

When you see a book such as Mark Cockers book on birds here which I bought a few weeks ago you realise that the Kindle has its limitations. Illustrations and photographs do not translate so well.

I love the aesthetics of a book and that includes the writing. The books I put on Kindle have no aesthetic value for me other than the writing.

spicynaknik · 27/10/2013 13:06

I'm the opposite. I have downloaded stuff on my kindle that I can't be arsed to read because its a faffy drag. I don't really like it because I read pretty fast and I am constantly pressing the button so it's not really relaxing. At least with a book, you get two pages at once and they are more like 4 - 6 kindle pages.

Also somehow, because they are not flexible, somehow they aren't as comfy to read in bed with.

It's OK for holidays or breastfeeding when you only have one hand spare but so far, meh.

Plus there is still a limited amount available on kindle, so it's not a worthy replacement yet.

Be interested to see how the technology improves though.

cantspel · 27/10/2013 13:06

Kindles and other ereaders have opened up a whole new market of independent authors. Ok you have to wade through some dross but every now and again you find a little gem.

And you can pass on your book collection as every book i buy is backed up on cloud so when i die someone can inherit my cloud account.

ScarerAndFuckItsAGhost · 27/10/2013 13:07

reup it's going to be one joyless apocalypse if there's no time for reading something.

Pacific I think the travel section has glossier paper to cope with all the photographs, so perhaps has a glossier smell. Too fancy for my tastes anyway. I like to sniff a good, plain horror story any day of the week. Grin

Original poster
LordPalmerston · 27/10/2013 13:08

Agree with mignon about illustrations. Yes.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 27/10/2013 13:08

I'm pissed off that I bought a load of Phillippa Gregory iBooks to read when doing night feeds and after The White Queen was on TV could lend my paper copy of The White Queen to them easily, but can't lend them any of the others and they cost as much as an actual book.

I'm also quite looking forward to my kids reading my copies of books I loved as a child, with my name written in the front.

And That Is Not My Dinosaur just doesn't work as an e-book.

PacificDogwood · 27/10/2013 13:09

Scarer, you are a secret glue sniffer, you are WinkShock

Howsuper · 27/10/2013 13:11

I'm snobby about owning proper paper books and I'm actually quite low brow. I can't stand houses where there are no books on display (and don't even get me started on shelves full of DVDs in living rooms).

mignonnette · 27/10/2013 13:11

Yes Spicy Kindles aren't so good for faster readers. I am one and i am constantly having to press the side bars. The smallest font and I still whizz through it-a tad frustrating.

I doubt that the format used to store Ebooks in sixty years will be usable for our beneficiaries unless you constantly update and not everybody will be in a position to do that.

KittyFucker · 27/10/2013 13:11

I like both. I do like to know how much longer I've got. But I am reading War and Peace on my kindle, holding it one handed in bed which I couldn't do with a paper copy.

Do I get an award for being the knobbiest/snobbiest for my book choice?

(interesting aside - I went into my local library and asked if they had any Tolstoy. The man behind the counter went away and returned with a DVD of Toy Story.)

mignonnette · 27/10/2013 13:13

Howsuper

I have shelves of books lining every room except the bathroom. I also have cupboards of DVDs with some on shelves in the sitting room too.

What does that make me Grin?

yourlittlesecret · 27/10/2013 13:14

I have an ancient kindle with buttons on. I love the giant font option for when I am pissed tired. My holiday luggage is dramatically lighter without 10 paperbacks.
Prefer books though. The one thing I can't get around is that flicking back a couple of chapters to remind myself what happened.
You can't chuck a kindle down on the beach when you go for a wander.

jammiedonut · 27/10/2013 13:14

I like the sharing aspect of a real book, and passing a much loved and dog eared copy of my favourite book makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. God knows why! I love my kindle though and have plenty on there too. I've also dropped plenty of books in the bath, and cannot be trusted to have my kindle in there!

ScarerAndFuckItsAGhost · 27/10/2013 13:17

Migonnette I agree about some books not working well on Kindle.

I wish I had bought Wolf Hall in paper because it all seemed to blend together on the Kindle. Sudden changes in character or location got a little confusing on the Kindle. But it says it has family trees best viewed on a tablet so perhaps tablet is better than Kindle or paper book.

I'm reading one now called Mountain of the Dead, about the Dyatlov Pass incident and I think that might be better in paper as well.

But the Kindle has been very good for the reason cantspel has said, I've found a range of new authors I otherwise wouldn't have found, so I'm pleased with it for that reason.

I wish there was some code you could scan/enter from your paper copy to your Kindle so you could have the book in both formats, even if just for a temporary amount of time, but I suspect that might be hard to implement and open to abuse.