Do you remember books?

[AleisterCrowley]

Aaah Selina Scott , whatever happened to her? Last I read she was in the jumper business
Lovely woman...

[Fairleas]

If I buy an ebook, I can enjoy it.

If I buy a paper book, many will enjoy it.

[Urbandreamer]

If I buy an ebook, I can enjoy it.

If I buy a paper book, many will enjoy it.

Humm. Sorry I don't feel that quite works. Does Slatri deny others the enjoyment of a given book just because he keeps his copy rather than give it away?

If you are talking about lending the books then Amazon do let you loan out your books.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer ... =200549320

Then again there is project Gutenberg.
https://www.gutenberg.org/
Millions can enjoy the same ebook, you can even legally pass on your copy.


FWIW, I'm quite happy with others statements that they get a special pleasure from paper books that they dont from ebook. Ebooks may be great, but they are not for everyone and not everything works as a Ebook.

[Dod1010]

As a reading list for a young person Halicarnussus's list seems pretty good to me. Mind you I have never heard of some but have certainly read a lot of them, not in the last ten years for many though, more like 30 years ago.

I wish I had kept a list as well. It would be equally esoteric and would contain much more non fiction. History, biographies and so on, which I think are required reading, as well as the so called literature of classic fiction.

Personally I have around 3000 books in my house and shelve nothing until I have read it, but I am continuously thinning out stuff.

Interesting thread.

Dod

[Halicarnassus]

As a reading list for a young person Halicarnussus's list seems pretty good to me. Mind you I have never heard of some but have certainly read a lot of them, not in the last ten years for many though, more like 30 years ago.

I wish I had kept a list as well. It would be equally esoteric and would contain much more non fiction. History, biographies and so on, which I think are required reading, as well as the so called literature of classic fiction.

Personally I have around 3000 books in my house and shelve nothing until I have read it, but I am continuously thinning out stuff.

Interesting thread.

Dod

It is accidentally recherché!

I too continually thin out, but I'm a bit of a hoarder which causes problems.

[Fairleas]

If I buy an ebook, I can enjoy it.

If I buy a paper book, many will enjoy it.

Humm. Sorry I don't feel that quite works. Does Slatri deny others the enjoyment of a given book just because he keeps his copy rather than give it away?

If you are talking about lending the books then Amazon do let you loan out your books.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer ... =200549320

Then again there is project Gutenberg.
https://www.gutenberg.org/
Millions can enjoy the same ebook, you can even legally pass on your copy.

Can I read Grisham, Baldacci and Archer on the ebook sites you mention?


FWIW, I'm quite happy with others statements that they get a special pleasure from paper books that they dont from ebook. Ebooks may be great, but they are not for everyone and not everything works as a Ebook.

Can I read a Baldacci, Grisham and Archer on the sites you mention?

[doug2500]

Funnily enough I just don't remember books I've read on my kindle while I remember everything I've read in a book. e.g if you asked me who the author was of most books I've read on my kindle I wouldn't know. I could name almost every author I've ever read in a book.

I still prefer a book, but there's no arguing with the storage advantage of a kindle, or the 99p daily deal which leads me to read more diverse stuff, books I'd never buy for £7 but am happy to give a go for 99p.

Everyone should read Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada (amongst many other books)

[Dod1010]

Nightmare In Berlin is also good by Fallada.

Dod

[Urbandreamer]

....
If you are talking about lending the books then Amazon do let you loan out your books.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer ... =200549320

Then again there is project Gutenberg.
https://www.gutenberg.org/
....

Can I read a Baldacci, Grisham and Archer on the sites you mention?

I'm not sure which Archer you mean (I don't read any of those authors), but here is a serach for "Archer" on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_no ... rds=archer
and on Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author ... ery=archer

I'll let you search for the others, and any other that you think of.
Don't bother searching for recent books on Gutenberg though, they only do books where copyright has expired.

For example you could buy Tarzan of the apes from Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tarzan-Apes-Be ... rds=tarzan
then lend it to a friend electronically through Amazon
or get it for free from Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=tarzan
and since it's out of copyright, give a copy to your friend.

So try Gutenberg for clasics first. (Yes, Tarzan may not be high literature, but it is a clasic)

[UncleEbenezer]

I have eBooks, mostly for travel, but if I like the book then I buy a physical copy, if I can. That is probably why I have well over 10k of them.

eBooks just can't match up to the look, feel and smell of a book and I find that they give greater pleasure than an eBook. For a start it is easier to skip back a few pages, or more, to check if your memory is letting you down.

Slarti

We all say that, though few can afford the luxury of a decent collection (it's not the books that cost, but the space to keep them). But I expect that may be a generational thing: we like what we grew up with. Come back in 50 years time, when generations of people who have had both formats from infancy are discussing such matters.

I think I mostly remember books I've read. Though part of that is memorability: whether a book has made an impression on me. In the case of an author who has churned out a lot of very similar books to a formula (e.g. PG Wodehouse), they might easily blur into each other.

An interesting case arose when I had moved to Italy and was learning the language. After a couple of months picking up enough to get by, I went into a bookshop to find something to help myself improve, and spotted "Lo Hobbit". Well, that was where I first learned to read English as a toddler, and I still love the story. It turned out to be an excellent translation, nicely capturing the spirit of Tolkien's wordplay as well as the story. I enjoyed reading it in Italian, and it was helpful that I had read it in English, but so long ago as to have only a faint child's memory focussing on the exciting bits, so it felt new while being somewhat familiar. It took me ages to figure out "Thorin Scudodiquercia", probably because my junior self hadn't found the name interesting enough to be memorable.

[midnightcatprowl]

We all say that, though few can afford the luxury of a decent collection (it's not the books that cost, but the space to keep them). But I expect that may be a generational thing: we like what we grew up with. Come back in 50 years time, when generations of people who have had both formats from infancy are discussing such matters.

I used to love owning books and had them in various book cases and piles in my very small house. Then I began to feel it was a problem that they collected dust and even worse cat fur. Also more cheaply produced books often have very poor quality print and paper which starts to discolour and disintegrate after a time. I was also struggling to hold books for long periods due to an arthritic condition. I bought a Kindle wondering if I was wasting my money and very quickly, to my surprise, didn't want to read printed books at all. Those in decent condition went to charity shops or were used in 'Bookcrossing' activities, I gained a lot of house space and at least the cat fur is easier to remove when you've got space instead of lots of books.

I agree, I agree, that e-books have the disadvantage that it is harder to quickly look something up earlier in the book and also maps and drawings mostly don't transfer very well to the e format, though I assume that book publishers will be starting to take the e-book revolution into account to ensure they do so better in the future. But the great joy of my Kindle (or using the Kindle app on a tablet) is the ease of holding and the ability to adjust the size of print to suit yourself. Certainly for recreational reading at least physical books no longer have any attraction for me though I do still buy them as gifts for friends who prefer to stick with physical books and I buy some books from Charity Shops to use in Bookcrossing.

[Halicarnassus]

An interesting case arose when I had moved to Italy and was learning the language. After a couple of months picking up enough to get by, I went into a bookshop to find something to help myself improve, and spotted "Lo Hobbit". Well, that was where I first learned to read English as a toddler, and I still love the story. It turned out to be an excellent translation, nicely capturing the spirit of Tolkien's wordplay as well as the story. I enjoyed reading it in Italian, and it was helpful that I had read it in English, but so long ago as to have only a faint child's memory focussing on the exciting bits, so it felt new while being somewhat familiar. It took me ages to figure out "Thorin Scudodiquercia", probably because my junior self hadn't found the name interesting enough to be memorable.

+1