Why I still love books (of the printed variety)

There are so many people singing the praises of the Amazon Kindle and all the latest e-papers that I’ve started feeling like a weirdo. Here comes my admission – like as exasperated hero in a lame comedy, I can shout – “Yes, I still love books damn it!”.

Don’t get me wrong, I would still buy the Kindle – when I can get it in the UK at least. I would buy it to read all those novels that I am not sure about and the latest ‘must haves’ from the web/PR/social media category. However I would still go for the real thing if the price was the same. I figure, they should be charging me at least 40% less for the electronic version since they have no paper/ printing/ shipping costs. I digress however. The point is I still love books.

I love libraries


Senate House
Originally uploaded by stevecadman

If you haven’t been to Senate House, the University of London library (it was used as the Ministry of Truth in the film 1984, it’s an iconic building in London) you don’t know what you are missing. I could walk around the library and just get books off the shelf. I don’t even have to know where I am going. I especially love the maps & atlases sections which is always completely deserted. And I love running my fingers over the spines of old leather bound books.

I love second-hand bookshops
Not the new type all white minimalist bullshit bookshops with the latest pulp biography. I love the old style second-hand bookshops, crammed to the ceiling, with stickers on all the shelves and weird old men in anoraks (there is always one). I don’t want any rare books. Just your run-of-the-mill books, for ridiculous prices and massive discounts because one page is missing (like the title page) or because they’ve lost the DVD it was coming with.

I love the smell of books
I just can’t get over it. Old paper, crumbling leather spines, cheap pulpy paper that smells worse and worse and time goes by. Paradise must smell like that.

I love destroying their spines
I am a messy reader so you can tell which of my books I’ve read again and again. Their spines are bent all out of shape, some even have pages dangling from them if you don’t hold them the right way.

I love the history I have with my books
I write a date, my name and the place of purchase in all my books. It’s a trick my mother taught me and she suggested that in years to come I would be able to have more memories associated with my books. It worked. Now each book reminds me not just the plot itself but what I was doing in my life at that time.

I love notes and scribbles
I mainly do this with textbooks and business books. Sometimes with my favourite novels as well. I love scribbling things in the margin, or phrases from other books, or doing a bit of cross referencing. In pen! Some people consider this sacrilege but I think it gives the book character. I sound weird when I say this but I genuinely think that it creates a shared story between me and the book. And don’t tell me how the Kindle allows notes as well. It’s just not the same.

If the Internet died tomorrow but I had access to a library I would still be a happy (if lonely) person.

What about you? Do you love books? Or have you already fallen in love with e-paper?

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