Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Please don't loose book reading to online -

222 replies

oopsadaisyme · 02/05/2014 23:09

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?

OP posts:
RustyBear · 03/05/2014 07:54

If you want to see something on a similar theme that's really pompous, try this....

www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/02/will-self-novel-dead-literary-fiction

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 03/05/2014 07:55

I love both too, but worry about the Amazon/online stranglehold. We don't use the library much (ours is quite out of the way) but the DCs and I love an hour in Waterstones browsing and would hate to see the end of the High Street book shop.

LadyintheRadiator · 03/05/2014 08:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NCISaddict · 03/05/2014 08:53

I have a houseful of books plus about a thousand on my kindle. If I was to buy all those books I would have to get rid of DC's and DH, now there's a plan.Grin
I love both but travel quite a bit and love having space in my luggage for clothes rather than the 25 books I used to take away with me for every 2 week holiday.
My kindle has also made me more adventurous, I can download a free sample and check I really want to read it before shelling out for the whole book. I still buy paper books but now I can read more with sacrificing space.

BiscuitCrumb · 03/05/2014 09:02

I hate the smell of books, not that keen on the feel either, especially old ones. I'm almost completed converted to digital books now.

SoFetch · 03/05/2014 09:09

I also love that feeling of turning off the TV, laptop, etc., and having a good read. Except I read on a Kindle.

I don't need an internet connection to read books on my Kindle, I only need an internet connection to buy books. There are plenty of places with free WiFi access should my internet be down, or I could do it at a friend's or family member's house. But tbh I have so many books on there already that I can't imagine my internet access being down for a little while causing a huge problem.

There's nothing wrong with your love of actual, physical books, but why do you care whether other people read them or not?

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2014 09:59

I read 51 books on my Kindle last year, quite a few of them over 1,000 pages. I paid an average of about £1.5 for them.

The Kindle experience is no different than reading a book, only easier to hold and carry with you at all times. The screen is not backlit and reads like paper. I've heard lots of people say "Ooh but I love the feel and the smell of a book", until they get a Kindle.

OP - I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that you meant to criticise spending lots of time on the internet (MN etc) rather than reading books on e-readers like Kindle. Was that what your OP was about, when you said "How awful it would be to put this all online"?

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2014 10:07

Just realised folk were up at 2 AM having a go at each other.

OP sounds new to MN ("cancel thread"). Let's just give her a break.

I agree with whoever said that this could have been a good thread.

DontHaveAtv · 03/05/2014 10:08

lol at people saying its the smell of a book that adds to the experience too. What if you have got a cold and have a blocked nose and can't sniff the book? Does this hinder the whole experience? Grin

Seriously though I can't see the difference between reading a book or from a kindle. I actually read more now I have a kindle as does my daughter.

I did think the op meant going online in general and not e-readers too.

WilsonFrickett · 03/05/2014 10:49

5 minutes online (which you can do free at a library) will be enough time to send literally hundreds of books to your kindle. Once the books are on the kindle you're not 'online' - so the argument about internet use doesn't really hold water imo.

thecat the Amazon dominance really does scare the shit out of me.

scottishmummy · 03/05/2014 11:03

I got a steer from someone on mn and i read the luminaries,loved it
Amazon are cheap fir ebooks,im not that bothered by the politics of publishing
If im getting a book i want at reduced price,im happy.market economics innit

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2014 11:05

It may have been me, SM. I'm glad you liked it Smile

HanSolo · 03/05/2014 11:08

It's the complete control of the market they have, coupled with their shocking treatment of workers, which seems to be completely sanctioned by the UK government, who are not even getting the revenue they should from the company.

And Amazon completely know it. Very saddening.

HanSolo · 03/05/2014 11:20

I am not happy about 'market economics' though sm. People who produce things are getting screwed over (whether it's literature, milk, or chairs they produce), the only people making money are those exploiting others.

I don't like that world. If I want milk, surely I should be paying what it costs to produce, plus something for the farmer's time. If I want a chair, I need to be paying for the cost of the materials, the woodturner's time, the designer's time, the time/expenses of the person that has shipped that?

I know publishing companies artificially price books, but I don't think it's right (morally I mean) to always want things at a reduced price, because someone is being penalised somewhere down the line for that 'saving'.

It would be very easy for me to put the plight of workers on zero-hour contracts, working thought agencies, laid off after 2 months and 28 days so they are constantly denied employment rights, out of my mind- it will not affect me, as I am well-educated, well-remunerated for the specialist role I carry out, I am not likely to be in the situation of being forced to take a zero-hour contract, nor are my family. I cannot however. Because it is wrong that people are treated in this manner, that they are subservient to others, denied rights that others enjoy as a matter of course. So that consumers can have 'cheap' products, and companies can make huge profits. Profits that they do not pay tax on, and thus do not benefit the countries and the populations of the countries in which they operate.

But having read the OP again, how ironic that we are all sitting discussing this online! Grin

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2014 11:21

I don't know about their HR issues, but their large market share is well-deserved imho.

Amazon created the ereader market, putting out one Kindle after another when there was hardly any demand. They provide a great service, low prices, loads of free books, and a platform for aspiring writers to put their work out there. I have no problem with their large market share.

scottishmummy · 03/05/2014 11:23

Thanks cote.i like getting a steer on book.and the amazon sales are good to pick up a cheapie

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2014 11:25

"I don't think it's right (morally I mean) to always want things at a reduced price, because someone is being penalised somewhere down the line for that 'saving'."

Are you talking about low prices of ebooks?

Kindle books' prices are lower than print books because of the obvious savings involved - no transportation, no storage, no inventory costs etc. They would have been much lower if publishing companies percentages were not involved.

When I buy a book for 99p, that is a reduced price for just one day - when the book is "Kindle deal of the day". I get the book for peanuts, but the publisher (and hence the author) benefit from increased sales and getting the book in the "Top Sellers" list where it is more visible and generates more sales even when the price is back to £5 or whatever.

MrsDeVere · 03/05/2014 11:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

scottishmummy · 03/05/2014 11:35

In the recent past books were more expensive,and library use was higher
But now books are cheap and in supermarket,online and there is kindles too
Reading is a great activity,whether in print or kindle

Some people see having books as a badge of mc status and intellect,ooh we have oodles of books ergo we are v clever.the book is a physical object not a prized trophy

As a kid we owned very few books,borrowed many. What mattered was the access and inclination to books

I think amazon created a market in ebooks, and thats been fantastic. That market didnt exist before,an untapped set of readers

OwlCapone · 03/05/2014 11:42

But Books far more lovely to read and enjoy

The printed book you claim to love is simply a very poor relative of a proper book, hand written in beautiful calligraphy on vellum and bound in leather. How awful it has been to have put it all on pulped wood.

And scrolls - now there was a book. Well, not a book as such, a scroll... But those were the days.

OwlCapone · 03/05/2014 11:42

Oh, and cave painting! Wow, what a powerful medium that was. Bring back cave painting to tell stories I say.

CoteDAzur · 03/05/2014 11:43

Owl Grin

scottishmummy · 03/05/2014 11:44

Dont forget the oral tradition,we need ti get back round the fire for real storytelling

OwlCapone · 03/05/2014 11:44

:)

I was anti e-readers but it's simply the next evolution of the book. I love my kindle now.

scottishmummy · 03/05/2014 11:50

I was sceptical til i got a kindle,but now love the portability,price abd ability to buy a 99p book

Swipe left for the next trending thread