Khaleel Datay's Blog - Posts Tagged "paper-books"

A year ago I would have said you cant beat the feel of a real book in your hand. That familiar friend that's been with you for years through winters and summers taking you to new places every day. Maybe paper still edges the ebook for me and hopefully paper will never disappear. The fact though is that since I got my Kindle I've read more than 70 books in just 18 months. Then also the odd paper book along the way. The ease of buying a book, of reading a book on your Kindle has made a huge difference in how we access new works nowadays. It doesn't matter what device you use (Kindle/IPAD/Kobo etc), that's down to personal preference, but there's been a revolution in the books business that's swept through the last few years. Bricks and mortar bookshops have been major casualties along way. Traditional publishers whose profits depended on printed books have also felt the heat and there's been a scramble of mergers and acquisitions in the industry just to ensure survival let alone make profits. Ultimately I don't know how much it matters, but what I do know is that people wont stop reading. I often hear people saying that they haven't read a book in the last twenty or thirty years since they left high school. I think they've sorely lost out. Yeah there are readers and there are non-readers. There's hope those self-confessed non-readers all own IPADS and are reading stuff online. I say three cheers to Amazon and Apple for being market innovators and leaders that have made such a huge impact on our lives. So which one is better, ebook or paper book, who cares, as long as you're reading.

In between work, writing and painting (doing seascapes now), my reading time has suffered. In one of my first posts I sang the praises of e-books, and I still do (my books only published as ebooks). Problem is my Kindle has been acting up lately. Keeps needing rebooting before I can actually read something. Then when you're just settling in for a good read the thing goes and seizes up again. After trying to find someone to fix the damn thing, I found Amazon not keen on fixing these things. At the tip of Africa, its a bit far to find someone to shout at. I did the next best thing. I went to my bookshelf and started re-reading some of my old books. I've been through Deighton's 9-book triple trilogy. Finally read his first book called THE IPCRESS FILE, maybe twenty years too late for me. Found it a drag for most part. Also one of Daniel Silva's latest I had put down earlier, and now reading The Tailor of Panama by Le Carre. The great thing about books is that they keep giving. Turning pages the old fashioned way still best. Love it!