Please don't loose book reading to online -

[oopsadaisyme]

This has probably been mentioned numerous times before, but books are so lovely, to kids, to us -

I love being able to turn off the tv and read to the kids, and when their asleep pick up a book and in quiet read a brilliant story from pages I can turn - even the feel of a book I love - marking a page, everything!

How awful it would be to put this all online, or am I wrong?

Won't someone think of the libraries?

Oh wait? People already have? It's sorted and all the decent libraries are moving on quite happily?

Cool.

Swap kindles?

If I did that then my secret love of Mills & Boons would be out.

You're a braver woman than me, Han.

Books are disposable,recyclable.theyre not precious objets d'art.
Who care if spine broken?i page mark by folding

I care. If it's not your book then you should be nice to it. I turn down corners but only in my own books. I have my rules and they only have to make sense to me.

scott so how many books do you read, that you then give on to charity shops?? and why do people so regularly give you books when you have stated you don't read actual 'books'???

Intrigued.....

It's that paper books have this extra life, we switch books loads at work, then there's book crossing and such which happens much less with e-books. It's a way for the amazons of this world to make more money if they can kill or curtail the second hand book market. You may think it's cheaper but you are buying those e-books fresh as opposed to buying some and getting some for free (I've just passed on Karl Ove Knausgaards "man in love" and took on Iain Banks's "Stonemouth"). Paper books have a life, a movement that e-books don't have right now and the publishers don't want them to have.................that's aside from me finding them easier to read, easier to carry, better to browse and better for throwing.

Keep up op.i never said i dont read print book,you assumed.erroneously

HoneyDragon I live in a huge city where people actually use the library regularly for toddler meets, book swaps, story time, etc-

So actually, quite important

I'm a writer. I want an audience, someone to read my words. The medium they use to do so - frankly I don't give a shit.

I'm also a reader. I used to live in a city with bookshops on my doorstep. Now I live in the country. So should I sit and twiddle my thumbs until my next trip to town, or should I just, you know, buy a book off the magical Internet and read it now? I am not exaggerating to say I probably wouldn't have moved I if didn't have a kindle.

Another point. We're not there yet (and I do hate Amazon's stranglehold on the market. Although I note no-one ever moans about Waterstone's comparative hold on the physical market). But I imagine a world where cheap e-readers are available everywhere, with accompanying Internet connection. All over the world. Bringing literacy, thought, innovation, classic literature in all languages to every child in the world. And that is something worth thinking about...

Yes,wilson I agree.the dissemination of the idea is more important than its medium

wilson how wonderful for you, as your market now worldwide and you can reach a wider audience with your work, all great stuff!!

A little point, say, god forbid, someone couldn't afford their internet bill, how would they ever learn anything???

WilsonFrickett: the problem (at the moment) with the dream of cheap e-readers and no monopoly thereby, is in the problem of incompatibility between the downloadable forms of e-books. It is really hard to see how anyone else, let alone an archipelago of providers, will be able to break the dominance of Kindle/Amazon. That will matter a huge amount in the future, though it feels benevolent and not-an-issue at the moment.

I complain about Waterstones. Or rather, I used to. What is closing the few remaining bookshops in these parts is Amazon.

I think another thing I worry about is how books will be marketed in the future. It will ultimately affect how writers gain a platform. It's interesting how the form provides an entry for new writers at the moment but I can't see that opportunity lasting forever.

I would like to see e-books really opening up the literary market, that would be amazing, but I worry it's going to be more of the same.

Yes youre pompous.in absence of Internet folk can still learn stuff.by book learning
you are aware books on sale in supermarket to buy less than rrp,or library
And folks well,they somehow get by

I'll be quite honest, my other half left me and the kids the start of this year and took everything, all my money, everything, I could not afford my sky bill so was not online for months-

What e-books did I have access to??? None -

Call me pompous, not a chance, Libraries were a godsend -

Aren't writers self-publishing in e-form though? The publishing companies have such a stranglehold on print books, I would have thought it was a good thing that people, anyone, can publish electronically, though marketing your writing as a one-person-band is obviously a mammoth task.
However, bloggers have been e-publishing for years, and lots have done very well at marketing themselves, carving out niches for themselves by becoming experts in varying things. Lots of top-flight bloggers have had print-book deals on the back of the success of their publications online.

If one got access to library,great.i like charity shops,cheap and eclectic

oops- I was bought an ereader as a gift (big birthday), and I have spent a grand total of 67p on books so far, because there are a lot of free books out there, things I have wanted to read for years, that I'm finally ploughing through.
As I said, libraries lend e-books (and the readers) nowadays too.

In the UK, lack of finances cannot stop one from reading.

Bloody hell what a place!! It comes down to peoples preferences and these two get going over a term one used, "electronic shit" which I think one misunderstood what the other meant by it.

When i need a succinct summary,i'll not look to you.you havent aclue

Libraries also lend other books aswell as e-books. Fairly sure the newer releases aren't gratis like I can get from friends.

What's an "aclue" is it like an "igloo" ?

thegambler I meant exactly as u stated - just a throwaway term for all electronic gadgets etc

I think we've established,nit oickin spelling is petty.
Esp in absence of valid point

maybe some people can't afford being online at all times, maybe why I love books so much, don't know, but certainly helped me and my boys

You took what she said in a way she didn't mean it. ie "electronic shit". Yes picking on spelling is petty, as is ramming on on the same point after it's been pointed out it's not really what was meant.