Monday, September 6, 2010

Traditional Turned Digital

A few years ago if you had asked me to choose between ebooks and "real" books I would've probably chosen the latter. Like millions of other bookworms I have an attachment to the written word, ink & paper, fonts and binding. Yet these days if you ask me what I've been doing on the computer all day, 8 out 10 times, I'd answer that I've been reading ebooks.

I first got into ebooks a few years back when I read some book reviews but didn't have the funds to buy a book. I stumbled onto free ebook sites and began to find books I didn't own. Eventually, my growing addiction to anime brought me to manga and reading online became a habit. Given the chance and the money, I still went on book shopping sprees and continued filling my bookshelves with books. However, I moved to Vietnam in 2008 and acquiring printed books was put to a stop. English language novels aren't that common in bookstores here. In fact, I would have to go to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) to find them and even then my choices would still be limited. There are a few secondhand stores here in Vung Tau that sell old English novels, but they mostly are of the dog-eared romance paperback variety. So that's why I now turn to ebooks when I need my daily book fix.

Ebooks are so easy to obtain these days, I have thousands of them in CDs and in my hard drive. I have started uploading them to a 4shared site in case something ever happens. I have also thought about it and for a greener future, this might be a better option than having them on paper. Less trees to cut.

Sometimes I envy people who mention that they just bought a new book... I still miss the smell of books, old or new. I miss touching the pages and rifling through the book for something specific. But ebooks aren't so bad, after all, it's the text that counts. Or so I keep telling myself.

4 comments:

  1. hi sis, there's an ebook reader sold in Barnes and Noble.. I forgot what it's called. It's the size of an iPad or somehow smaller. But it's a lot cheaper. I'm sure you will like to have one too since you're into ebooks pala. I still prefer the traditional smell of ink and paper of new books any day. :)

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  2. you're probably talking about Nook. nah, I won't be able to afford that for a while. right now I'm just focusing on my love of reading. traveling on a low budget, living in a non-English speaking country and collecting books I can read just don't go together. besides, i read too fast for one or two books to last me more than a few hours :P

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  3. I still prefer books! I love curling up in one corner with my book. Reading ebooks somehow gives me eye strain.

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  4. I was able to buy "pirated" books in HCMC. So weird! Was on page 95, then page 99, then 97. Some pages were even missing. They're not that expensive though. :p

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