while i share with my favorite author jeanette winterson the same sentiments about books, roberto bolaño just might convince me to consider e-books.
let me explain.
winterson says in her column:
Why do I not like e-books?
I am a romantic and prefer the full-strength version that you can drop in the bath. They have not made a water-proof e-book yet.
And when you leave a book dropped in the bath on the side to dry, it has a survivor-feel to it. It has a history. Your e-book can never have a history because it can’t age as you do,
As techies are freaked out by anything that isn’t ‘new’, the idea of a book ageing is probably horrible.
But not to me.
And you can’t write your name in the front. Or get your lover to write their favourite bit in the back.
And so on.
But hey, it’s progress I’m told.
that was something i just read yesterday, barely a week after the last online discussion i had with other avid readers about the subject, one where my final word was i don’t think i’d ever warm up to the idea of e-books.
until this afternoon. when i found roberto bolaño’s 2666 in the bookshop downstairs, all 912 pages of it. and i imagined carrying this book in my bag must feel like lugging around a terracotta tile sandwiched between two special edition dvd’s of moulin rouge. but i badly wanted to read the darn thing.
so this is the day i considered e-books. the day i also realized that i’m physically too decrepit to bear the weight of books over 550 pages.
CornerSeat 