I’m on the road this week, braving the great American ice storm to visit my parents in New York and then my son up in Boston. I tell you, it makes me long for the relative moderation of a London winter.
While I have been travelling I’ve been using my new iPad all the time, not only for facebook, twitter, writing this blog and emails, but also for reading ebooks. The experience of the past few days has made me realise that the list of truths about ebooks that I posted last week is not quite complete. I have two more points now to add to the list:
* I have gotten used to eating alone in restaurants. It’s not so easy for a woman on her own to do. We tend to feel self-conscious and out of place. The solution is often to bury yourself in a good book. But it can be hard to eat and read at the same time. Both activities need your hands, especially if the book is of any size and weight. With a paper book, that means you are left to read between courses, and stare off into space as you munch. But with an ebook, you can put the device beside you on the table, turn the pages with a flick of a finger, and read while your hands are otherwise occupied wielding your cutlery. To me, this is a worthwhile advance, indeed.
* My mother is a voracious reader and I often pass books onto her that I know she will like. This practice of passing along books is a tricky one. Okay, it’s not so good for writers and publishers who would prefer books to be bought, not borrowed. But there is a wonderful sense of shared intimacy that can arise around sharing books, and that sort of special camaraderie is not to be taken lightly. But an ebook can not be shared. You can’t lend your device to someone else for a few months so they can read your new favourite book. All you can do is tell someone about the book and hope for the best. No, ebooks are not for sharing, and although this may be good for the industry, it might not be quite so good for civilisation.
So, I think this now covers all my discoveries about ebooks. Have I forgotten anything?
I agree about the disappointment when you can’t share e-books you like. The plus side of sharing books, for writers at least, is surely that it boosts their reputation via the priceless word of mouth method. Last night, a friend returned a book she’d borrowed from me, told me her mother had also read it, ‘and now we want to read everything else by that author,’ she said. If I hadn’t lent her the book in the first place, she might never have heard of the author, even though she’s published at least five well-reviewed books. (I first discovered her in the Guardian Review.)
For me, also, there is disappointment that I can’t give a book I didn’t enjoy to the local charity shop. I bet writers and publishers aren’t so keen on this, either, but I reckon our local hospice has made thousands of pounds from my discarded books over the years, and I’m not sorry about that.
Because I can’t share or give away my books, I won’t pay full price for an e-book. For sure I love my Kindle, but e-books are just not worth as much to me as paper books. The rubbish formatting doesn’t help, either – I was very interested in Adele Ward’s comment on your last post – I started reading a novel on my Kindle last night which has random words in capitals in random line breaks on almost every screen, which is REALLY ANNOYING!!!
You’ll be pleased to hear that ebooks can be shared! Amazon has now arranged it that you can lend your Kindle books, and I agree with you that it’s very important.
I love your comment on how much easier this is in restaurants. You’re so right about how hard it can be for women alone to eat out, and many men also feel uncomfortable. An ebook makes it ‘dinner for two!’ And it won’t put you off your meal by eating with is mouth open…. Hopefully it won’t be boring either.
I’m a bit saddened by the discussion from your last post suggesting that poetry ebooks don’t work. Poetry books are the ones that are really hard to sell, except at events, so hard to get stocked in bookshops, so much in need of extra buyers.
I think we have to find a way to make them more appealing as ebooks. Would it be attractive if the ebook came with audio of the poet reading the poems? That would certainly tempt me.