Sunday, January 17, 2010

Inconvenient – Reading on Paper

I woke up this morning to find Tia reading an actual paper books. That’s become a rarity for both of us, each of us tending to read on our phones and not with real books.

I reached over and held her hand, just laying there. We do that a lot, and it’s very relaxing. I like holding my wife’s hand. I felt her move, and opened me eyes, and saw that she had tilted the book so she could read the right hand page and I could now see the title. I closed my eyes until a minute later when she said

“This is so inconvenient”

She was referring to the fact that she had to hold the book up, it’s heavy, no light for night reading, and she can’t turn pages with one hand. At least not easily.

I’d agree with most of those, and reading in bed was one of the main reasons I like e-reading. I can do it with one hand, I don’t disturb my wife, and it was easy. I had all my books with me, and enjoyed it. With the Kindle I needed a reading light, but with the iPhone I don’t, and in that sense it’s superior. It’s also smaller, lighter, and one less thing to carry.

On the other side, I can’t easily read in bright sunlight, and I wonder how my trip to the islands will go. I am planning on taking 4 or 5 paper books along that have been sitting on the shelf and I want to get through. This is a great time to do it, plus being gone for 6 days, and not sure about my Internet connection, I don’t want to spend $100 or so on books.

The book my wife had was one our son recommended, and she said she’s just going to buy it from B&N to make things easier.

No comments: