Demise of Print!

"See how light it is," says my friend Randy B.  "Just settle on the couch and you'll see it's lighter than a book. It's so easy to see the text on the screen and you push this button to move forward, this button to move up or down and this one for backwards!"  Randy is very proud of her Kindle.  It's changed her life when it comes to reading.

I thought about how a Kindle would better my reading life.  I think it would not. Why?  Well for starters, I'm a bit sick of all the button pushing that goes on in my life these days. 

And second....I love books.

I love the smell of a new book.  Some women like the smell of new shoes, but me, I like the smell of ink drying on paper.  I love bookstores.  I love wandering in bookstores,  getting lost in picture books and magazines.  I love perusing the pages of a book with an interesting cover only to discover that I am falling into the story as quickly as Harry Potter falls into the pensive.  My brain goes to zen in 6 seconds flat.

Upon exiting the book store with the new purchases under my arm, I am impatient to go home to pop some corn, grab the cat and settle down to read.  I can't wait to live in the world of the story.

At times I am so enthralled with a 'page turner' that I don't even hear my name called unless the person is two inches from my ear  - at full volume. That happened a lot in 8th grade algebra.


I guard my collection of signed first edition in a locked glass cabinet.  I STOOD IN LINE for those signatures! I had a brush with genius and walked away with a snippet of conversation and being able to say, "I met her at a book fair.  Great author!" Some signed books (by dead authors) are currently priced at $5,000.  Yes, $5,000 for a signed copy of "Riders of the Purple Sage," by Zane Grey, one of my favorites.


So the Kindle got me to thinking.  How does an author "sign" a downloaded version of their book? How does a collector collect "e-books" from favorite authors?  And how do you sell an "e-signed, e-book on eBay?"


I will grieve profoundly the day books go the way of gas-guzzlers. But for now I will continue wander the last book stores, smell the drying ink and plot my attendance at book fairs.