singing vows before we exchange smoke rings

Jonathan Franzen warns ebooks are corroding values »

mirandaskye:

And I think he’s absolutely wrong.

I love books; I always have. I love reading. As a child I’d actually go to bed early so I could read. Anything, everything, it didn’t matter - I just wanted to read. I learned so much about the world from the books I read and I am eternally grateful for that. As an adult, my house is full of books and I still love going to bookstores and buying books.

I own a Kindle too. It’s great. I can read on the train, I can read on planes. I don’t have to carry lots of books around when I travel (which I do a lot). I’m a very fast reader so I couldn’t possibly take enough printed books with me when I go away without having some sort of medical emergency when I tried to lift my suitcase.

Reading is a gift. Let’s not let snobbery take that away. It doesn’t matter how people read; all that matters is that they do.

Franzen can suck it.

I prefer actual books, too. But I also like to not destroy all my bags because I carry books in them all the time (esp since my moto appears to be “the bigger the book, the better”). And I like to be able to travel without books taking up space unnecessarily (which leaves room for books to buy, like that time i bought like 10 books in Belfast and the people at customs looked at me funny).

Don’t even get me started on “serious readers will always prefer print”.

And while I partially agree with his comment on Europe, he can stop acting all high and mighty and get that stick out of his ass. The US are not perfect either, okay. They are not the one and only ‘democracy’. (but that’s a different story)

What a twat.

Who cares as long as everyone is reading books. It doesn’t mean they’ll stop buying actual books. I certainly won’t.