To Kindle or Not?

The controversy for me is to read a book on Kindle, or to hold a book in your hands? Here is what I have decided. There is a place for both. There are certain books to read on Kindle. For me they are current best sellers that I usually devour, and having read them once they are cast to a separate and less prominent position on my bookshelf. It seems a waste of paper to me to have stacks of books that I will only read once. And another advantage of Kindle is that you can have that book instantly downloaded onto your Kindle wirelessly and be reading with no wasted time (and time is a precious commodity) standing in line at the bookstore or waiting for it to arrive by mail.

The new Kindle DX comes with a larger 9.7” display and I am debating on whether to wait until they come out with a color screen. I discovered that they now have Kindle for PC & iPhone (free download). I downloaded Kindle for PC last weekend and really enjoyed the ease of reading on my laptop. You can turn the pages in a nano second, which is good for speed reading certain types of books and I liked the illuminated screen for reading at night. I have read two bestsellers on Kindle for PC : The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande & Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – both excellent books.

But then there are books that defy the use of Kindle for me, and those are the books that I want to hold in my hands, smell the pages, turn the pages, start reading from the back of the book, explore the beautiful pictures , arrange them in alluring stacks on my coffee table, line them up as works of art on my bookshelf. There is nothing as delightful to me as owning and reading a precious first edition.

1st Edition 1940 – I Married Adventure by Osa Johnson

So what do you think – to read a book on Kindle or hold it in your hands?

Patricia Gray is an award winning Interior Designer in Vancouver, Canada who blogs about WHAT'S HOT in the world of Interior Design. 2010 © Patricia Gray Interior Design Blog™