Books and ebooks

Just back from a day at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival, running this weekend at Northwood House in Cowes - http://isleofwightliteraryfestival.org/ - and this evening there was a publishing debate between authors, booksellers, and publishers of ebooks and printed books. Publishing today is a very precarious business - at the moment ebooks are doing well, how the printed books are doing  is a more delicate matter. Some of the speakers (author and publisher) expressed the view that the WORD is at the centre, whether coming to you from the printed page or electronically, and also, concerning the ebooks, that the essential thing is that you still buy them from the BOOKSHOP - without that we will certainly be up the creek without a paddle. Yes, wise words indeed.

But still. An ebook is so invisible. How can you get any vibes from a small computer screen, and, as one of the authors were saying, how can you get a sneak view of what your neighbour is reading on the train or on the underground? - so frustrating! More serious for me  is the total loss of inspiration or possibilities of  finding new books, authors etc that you get from just by picking up a printed book because it looks enticing, interesting etc. And what about bookshelves - is there anything as comforting as a room with books, - or a public library for that matter - to look at, to remember the reading experience they gave you,  giving you the possiibiity of new reading experiences, or to just being there - shelves with good old friends, and friends waiting to be known. I can't imagineI would get the same feeling from ebooks. The contents is the same, I'm sure you get the same thrill/excitement/satisfaction from your ebook reading experience, but once it's read it's gone - you can't turn it over, have a browse. And there is something special about turning over a printed page  ... - and you can't put the ebook  up in your book case and look at it and remember a good story, which to me is half the fun of reading.

Now off to bed with my library copy of  Donna Leon 'Beastly things' - a good bedside printed companion!