Paperback or E-Reader? Join the great debate to win £100 of books or e-books

[RachelMumsnet]

Are paper books old news? These days there are more e-readers and literary apps than you can shake a USB stick at. We want to know if you've eschewed paper for digital, or if you reckon a well-thumbed paperback beats technology hands down. Join the discussion to let us know which medium you prefer and why, and you'll be entered into a draw to win £100 bundle of books OR £100 e-book bestsellers courtesy of Bloomsbury.

paperbacks all the way love to just be able to pick a book up and take anywhere even the bath

I can see the advantage of both but Paperback will always be my favourite as they feel more personal!

Was always a book person until my Hubby bought me a e-reader for Christmas & I'm now well & truly converted! I like the fact I can read in bed without the bedside light on so don't disturb Hubby, I can download books instantly & it's so much lighter than a book.

i like paperback as it feels more like a book

Paperback- find it more stimulating to have an actual book in my hand- colour, pictures etc. Like to be able to hand books on to family and friends when I'm finished with them.

I've read a few books on my kindle but for a classic I prefer a real book that I can pick up and read over and over.

I use both a kindle and also real books. I must admit I am always more tempted by a real book but the kindle is brilliant to take on holiday, that way I have lots more books to read without adding to the weight of my luggage.

I like both, but I prefer a paperback every time.

I never thought I'd get a Kindle as I love paper books but I've had one for 3 years now and I love it. I really wouldn't be without it.

It's excellent for holidays and travelling. On holiday, I can easily read a book a day so that would mean 14 books for a fortnights holiday. Now I just load up my Kindle and that's all I need. It stays charged for ages too.

I also like the fact that you can get really cheap/free books on it. I recently got the whole Booker Prize short list for £1.99 a book on Amazon. I've also read lots of classics that I've got for nothing or next to nothing that I would not other wise have read.

I do still really enjoy reading a paper book and my bookshelves show that!

A proper book. Nothing beats the feel of curling up with a good book in bed. It's good to get away from screens sometimes too.

Paperbacks, I like how they feel

I love my kindle, I've been reading digitally since there was an app for my palm (not sure they were called apps in those days..) and as others have said I love that I can always have my book with me (I have the app on my phone as well as a Kindle) and that taking the many books I plan to get through on holiday is no longer an issue.

I've read loads of classics - more than I would have in paperback (because they are free). It's loads better now we can share a kindle account as a family, it was annoying when it was difficult for DH to read a book I had but I had to lend him my Kindle to do so.
I also think that my Kindle is much easier to read one handed & lighter to hold.

The children have always had real books - I can't see a kindle replacing a picture book any time soon but now that DD1 is 8 & becoming a voracious reader I have bought her a Kindle of her own.

Can a book sniffer explain the love of the smell to me?

I get liking the touch, actually turning pages but don't understand the smell thing. Loads have posted on this thread about the smell but all new books smell like paper and all old ones like musty paper.

What's so great about the smell of paper? Since they all smell the same there's not going to be a particular memory attached to a particular book.

I'm just being nosy.

OneTooMany - I'm with you. No idea what all this talk of "book smell" is about.

All books don't get printed in the same place, nor do they all have the same quality of paper. It is not physically possible for them all to smell the same. And they don't (to me).

Am I missing something?

I'm 50/50 on this issue. I love the portability of digital books, but do get annoyed with the number of times I have to flip to the next page, recharging etc.

On the other hand, 'real' books have that 'je ne sais quoi' about them - being able to feel the pages, mark your spot by turning over the corner.

Paper books. They seem so more satisfying to read x

I have to choose my Kindle! Can't remember the last time I read an actual book. It's just so convenient, I can take all my books everywhere I take my Kindle. It's been the best purchase I've ever made. It's great for when I'm going to work, or because I spend a lot of time in hospital it's great for to have my kindle there.

The amount of space I've saved in my house as well since I've switched to E books is great!

I can't decide!
I love real books. I go to the library and request books I want to read. I love to hold a book and read words on paper.
I love buying ebooks too. Instant gratification and space saving. It's easier to carry a kindle around rather than a few books. If I forget my kindle and end up somewhere where I can read a book, I have the kindle app on my phone.

I love my kindle but still prefer real paper books.
I love rummaging in second hand book shops and like to share books I have enjoyed with friends and family which you can't do with digital books.
I enjoy looking at my shelves full of books trying to decide what to read next, I would be sad if I had no real books in the house.

Kindle. I move around too much and have lost entire collections of books too many times to go back.

That said, I don't remember books as well when I read digital copies and as I have learned to my cost, kindle screens are incredibly fragile. I am stuck reading on my phone until I can get back to the UK to buy a new kindle.

I have always loved books..but I don't have room to house too many. My kindle solves that problem and I love having so many books to hand when I go away. No more picking a few to last me.

For cookery books, craft and sewing books though the real thing wins every time. !

It depends.

I always said I'd never get a Kindle, but what my husband must have heard was "blah blah blah Kindle" because he gave me one as a gift a couple of years ago.

I kind of like it now.

And to be fair, the real books were getting out of hand.

We must have close to four thousand proper books in the house, as DS is as big a book worm as I am, so the Kindle was cheaper and easier than moving house to accommodate more.

I do have rules.

I buy proper books from tried and tested authors who I love. I buy proper books if they have complicated family trees or maps or whatnot in them (so Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall etc) as I find it easier to flip back and forth in them to check who's who or where's where. I buy proper books if they have beautiful illustrations or photographs. I buy proper books if they are for children. I buy proper books that aren't available on Kindle.

I buy Kindle books if I haven't read the author before, of if I want a bit of light reading but am not particularly bothered about keeping the book on my shelves. I buy Kindle books that aren't available to buy as proper books. I buy Kindle books because it's 11pm at night and I just need to have that book right now.

I love the smell of proper books, and the feel of them, and the holding them in my hands. I once got caught sniffing a book in Waterstones and the sales assistant recommend I move from the crime section to the travel section as he preferred the scent of glossier pages personally. I love reading a proper book in public, and I like my son to see me reading proper books. I love finding handwritten notes in secondhand books (except for the time someone gave way whodunit on the third page in ) and I love the history that comes with a previously loved book. I love pages more than screens.

But I also love the convenience of the Kindle. I can read it without people noticing, or without having to hold a big book. I can take lots of books out with me all on one tiny device. I can say "I'm sorry, I would lend it to you but I read it on my Kindle" because I hate lending people my books. I'd rather buy them their own copy than entrust my books to someone else. Nobody ever asks to borrow your Kindle. I've had too many real books returned covered in coffee stains and fingerprints and with bent pages, or not returned at all because my PILs seem to think that borrowing something means they can sell it at the car boot sale .

I have a book shelf (okay three shelves) of real books that I love more than my other real books, and those are the books I would rescue first if the house were on fire. The Kindle would make that easier, but it doesn't look as beautiful.

Nobody ever visits someone else's house and browses their Kindle the way they browse their bookshelves. Even if once they've browsed the shelves their first question is "but what do you do with them all?" in shocked tones. Those people are weird and we feel sorry for them.

So I seem to have come down very firmly on the side of real books, although Kindle has a lot to say for itself too. If I read a book on Kindle that I find I really love, I will buy a real copy as well. I've only done that twice the other way around, and bought a Kindle copy to go with my real one.

I suppose it's fair to say I love books either way.

E-readers for instant gratification and travelling light.

Books read digitally still feel a bit "easy come, easy go" - harder to retain in my memory, and I don't feel I own them the way I feel a physical copy.

I love love LOVE my kindle.

I LOVE having all my library at a fingers touch everywhere I go.

I LOVE the in built light

I LOVE that I can highlight passages without actually feeling I'm damaging the book.

I LOVE being able to instantly buy another book whenever the impulse possesses me.

I LOVE the lightness and easy pack nature of it.

I keep my favourites "on my device" and re-read favoured passages :)

I LOVE that I can have my kindle books on various different devices (phone, pc at work) and will NEVER BE STUCK AGAIN.

I like the privacy of it. No one knows what I am reading unless I tell them.

I take ownership of my titles very seriously and have them all backed up on Calibre.

I love snapping up a fabulous book on the deal of the day or when ereaderIQ tells me about it

I am NEVER going back.

I maybe miss beautiful covers. I would like to buy beautiful hardbacks now of books I really love. I also miss browsing in real bookshops, the amazon experience is just not the same.

But that is it. Really, for day to day, it's ebooks now all the way.

I have 2 e-readers, a Nook Glowlight and a Kindle Paperwhite and I absolutely love, and regularly use, them both.

In the last few years I've whittled down my book collection to ones I can't bear to part with and ones I've yet to read. I still have many many actual books in my house but I rarely buy new paper books anymore (I buy loads from charity shops) but I buy kindle/nook books on a regular basis.