Hard decision- e-book or Real book?

ebooks vs real book (image- internet)

As far as I recollect, I have forever been a bookworm. Give me my books, a mug of coffee and leave me at the beach- THAT IS MY DREAM.

Books give me solace when the going gets hard. Opening up hundreds of worlds as the pages flip, books are a secret door to an undiscovered place. Whenever my love affair with reading is talked about, I have been confronted with a particular question– ebooks or real books?

And my constant retort to this inquiry is- A book with great content is my certain requirement. It does not make a difference whether the pages are flipped or swiped!!

With ramifications of the Covid pandemic and delivery constraints, e-books have turned out to be my recent favorite format of reading. However, the glamour of reading from the physical book is never-ever dying on me. To me, the excitement of getting an e-book instantly vs sitting tight on the door waiting for the arrival of a physical book is like the taste of sugar and spice- both important and both tasty.

I cannot be discriminatory to any format or shape of a book reading.

Real books (aka physical books) require no power to recharge them and they can be read in any environment with light. But on the other hand, one cannot regulate the font in a real book and read it at night without lamps on.

I love the look, smell, and feel of the classical book held in the hand, and that is a prime reason to not want to give up the sensory experience of reading from a paper book. I likewise love reading e-books because I can download them in a matter of minutes, and they're more portable than physical books.

As far as cost is concerned, and no doubt ebooks are cheaper several times…I don’t mind spending money on books… because to me they are the emotional treasure to hold forever and a physical depository to pass along to my juniors. I have a few classics which are on the kindle gallery as well as preserved on my bookshelf with bookmarks seated in them.

Nevertheless, the core of any book prevails in sharing the experience of the writer or in spreading the knowledge. Virginia Woolf once said “When the Day of Judgment dawns and people, great and small, come marching in to receive their heavenly rewards, the Almighty will gaze upon the mere bookworms and say to Peter, “Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them. They love reading.”

So, no matter the format- grab a book and start reading.