What does having an e-reader do to your reading habits? Does it make you read more or less? Does it change the books you read, the genres you dip into, the authors you follow?
I have had a year of reading e-books and along the way I have made a number of discoveries about reading, about technology and about the books that I love.
My e reader arrived on Christmas Day last year. It was bought for me by a person who was dubious about how much I would like it. I love books. Before I had kids I read a novel a week. I wanted to have them around me too, so the house is full of novels.
Since the arrival of my children I have tried to return to that level of book consumption but each year so far i have failed, until now.
Within an hour of unboxing the reader i had bought myself a book. I knew what I wanted and there it was within seconds.
Buying a book on an e reader is a breeze. As I was to discover, it’s a marvel to finish one book late at night in bed and then immediately buy another without even ruffling the duvet.
It’s a joy to be stuck on the bus and download a new book while you are waiting in a traffic jam.
But finding a book I wanted to read by electronic means became harder and harder. Once i had exhausted my “to be read” list finding new books was difficult.
E-readers throw up recommendations and lists. The lists are enormous. In “Literary Fiction” - whatever that means - there are thousands of titles appearing one by one in no useful order. How many more titles can you scan in a book store in front of a well signposted section?
The recommendations on my reader come up in batches of 24. They change very slowly so on finishing a book I hunt for a new one but very often the suggestions are the same as before the last book. Sometimes the list even contains books I have already bought, so why am i being offered them again?
Of course it may be some determined marketing - you will read that bestseller we like - but personally I think it’s more to do with the limitations of the technology.
I didn’t go to a book shop to browse and then buy when I got home, tempting though that was. Somehow that seemed like cheating, not to mention unfair on the shop.
But despite all this did I read differently? Did I discover something wonderful I would never have found before? Did I make some terrible errors
Well, to be honest, all of those things are true.
First to quantity. In total I read 52 e-books this year. I attained my pre-parenthood record. I never ran out of books. On holiday I loaded up the device with five books but I didn’t feel the need to ration them but simply downloaded more when the end was in sight.
I also downloaded my “emergency” book. This is one that I will happily read again; one that I know I will enjoy if push comes to shove and I am stranded bookless. (In my case, if you’re interested, it was Tess of The Durbervilles by Thomas Hardy. )
Certain factors in my book choice became irrelevant. For instance, the size of the book was never a consideration. The “will it fit in my handbag” question never arose.
Also, the cover became irrelevant. The image on the listing was so tiny it was barely visible and bizarrely the cover came up when I finished reading the book.
Personally I don’t find covers all that useful at the best of times, but I do think they can pigeon-hole books in certain genres. This didn’t happen. On one occasion I started a thriller with no idea that was what it was. Some preconceptions about individual books were demolished.
So what about quality of reading?
That seldom-changing recommendation list did make me read one or two things I would never have got to and really enjoyed.
For instance, I read more of the Booker Prize shortlist than I ever have in the year of the list’s publication. I found books there I liked better than the winner.
I took a chance on one or two things just because I noticed the price had dropped and was mostly pleasantly surprised with what I found.
I did however make two buying errors, one book I loathed and couldn’t finish and another that was not properly formatted and therefore unreadable electronically.
The ease of buying means I did get to the point where the cost was becoming an issue so to economise I sought out free or bargain books.
This made me return to classics I’d never got around to; My Antonia by Willa Cather; Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre; Persuasion by Jane Austen. I found I still didn’t like Dickens (sorry).
Of the 52 only one was non-fiction The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Wall; but this is normal for me. There was never another moment when the ebook lured me away from fiction.
It’s worth mentioning here that my friend who reads history as much as fiction says the former simply doesn’t work on an e-reader. The absolutely linear experience of reading electronically - no flipping forwards or backwards to find a chart or chapter-head - really doesn’t work for her in non-fiction.
And lastly, while I wasn’t visiting book stores I really had to find other ways to get book recommendations.
I found them on Twitter, following largely American bloggers who pointed me towards things I would never have found on my own.
So, i read the marvellous Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell; A Visit from the Goon Squad before it was on three-for-two tables in book shops here and The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman.
Did I read any paper books? I read two in addition to the 52, one I already had and the other loaned by a friend.
Will I buy books again? Absolutely. You can’t beat the smell of a new novel; the feel of the paper when you flip the pages in your hand. And above all, there’s no replacement for the joy of visiting a good book shop with a surprise suggestion at every turn.
Will I keep e-reading. Oh yes. Who can resist buying books at midnight in their pyjamas?
