Team Book-Book vs. Team E-Book: reading deeper, experiencing less?

We love them, we hate them, we’re frightened of them. Some think they’ll kill the book. Others think they’ll save it. Team E-Book & Team Book-Book may regularly clash, but I think one thing is clear: e-books aren’t going away anytime soon.

Lately, I’ve been reading several books at once–Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde; my latest review title) and Dreamsongs II (George R.R. Martin) in print, The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) and The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner) on my Kindle. Much as I love reading print novels, I’ve found that I finish e-novels sooner.

Team Book-Book: A Sensory Experience

For me, reading print books is about more than the written word. I love about the feel of the pages beneath my fingers and the slightly acidic new book smell that lingers long after I’ve cracked a title. For many books, especially those with enticing dust jackets, I’m constantly waiting for the a-ha! moment, the moment when I realize the significance of a cover illustration or untangle the clues in a book’s back cover copy.

I read quickly–pre-baby, I could finish up to three books in a day, particularly since I’m happy to lose sleep when there’s a good story to be had. Now, I read in short snatches of time–when the kidlet has dozed off for a while, when I’m stirring something on the stove (the book rests in a cookbook holder lest I drop it into a pot). When I read with the kidlet on my lap or snuggled onto my chest, I have to balance the book on the arm of a chair, or against propped up knees. (If I get my knees positioned just right, Mir’s feet hold the pages open for me.)

Each time I pick up my latest book, I scrutinize the cover for a moment, then riffle through to my spot. As I read, I’m very aware of the book itself, and I pay attention to grammar, spelling, sentence construction, plot reveals etc., making mental notes as I go, and summarizing them later, when I can reach my MacBook (no, I didn’t add the caps–Pages did it for me). Enjoying the story is still a big part of reading, but I have trouble letting go of work, particularly since most of the books I read inform my reviewing or writing in some way.

Team E-book: Words Alone

I resisted reading on the Kindle at first. I hate animated page turns, I hate the coolness of most metals (I love to be warm), and I hated the idea of losing my beloved new book smell. But when I did start reading on it (about 2 hours after Joe pressed it into my hot little hands), it was warm, light, and, best of all, easy. Within moments, I was lost in The Obernewtyn Chronicles.

At first, I missed all the sensory details paired with reading a print book. But the longer I read, the less I noticed the lack of pages and scent. In fact, the more I read on the Kindle, more absorbed I become–I can’t flick back to the cover or be distracted by drawing parallels between the synopsis and where I am in the story. Grammar, sentence construction &c. fall away in favor of the plot, and the plot alone–I make many fewer notes, even though it’s easier to do (the Kindle, like most e-readers, has an easy-access annotation function). All that remains are the words, the story, and the characters–my interpretation of the characters, that is. In the absence of cover art (some Kindle books have covers, but I haven’t seen any so far) I’m forced to imagine more, and I find I’m quite enjoying it.

It’s possible that Kindle reading is making me lazy and single-minded (insofar as a new mother can ever be single-minded). After all, it’s harder to rouse me from reading on my Kindle, and, while turning pages isn’t exactly a calorie-scorcher, it does force me to move more than the thumb clicks required by the Kindle. And, as a writer and reviewer, it’s important I continue note-taking and analyzing what I read. That said, it’s pleasant to relax into a book, and read for the sake of reading. So far, I compromise my reading “me” books on the Kindle, and everything else in print.

Of course, the immersion that comes with reading on the Kindle only works for simple, word-only e-readers. App-books like those Penguin recently demoed for the iPad are far too interactive for focused reading–the temptation of reading someone else’s margin comments or stopping to chat with a friend will be far too great for most readers (myself included). It’s likely that the iPad will also feature video content (along the lines of Barnes & Noble’s vook), providing ready-made-no-need-to-fire-up-the-imagination-muscles characters.

Younger Readers

Few teens I know have access to a Kindle or other e-reader (though the Cushing Academy may be changing that). Many do read online, though, as easily as they read in print. Do they find e-books easier to read?

But will e-books help teens read deeper, the way the Kindle does for me? If e-ink and electronic paper remain the order of the day, probably. And to some extent, publishers are betting on it. More and more titles, particularly YA titles, are hitting the virtual shelves (though some houses continue to publish e-books with a delay). According to Jack Gantos, a professor of children’s literature and Farrar, Straus & Giroux’s first teen e-book author, “We’ve reached the tipping point—the technology is in the school, the kids know how to use it.  It just makes sense.”

FSG’s VP and director of marketing Laurie Brown agrees.“We think kids have less resistance to reading on their computers.”

In an October 2009 report, PW notes that,

”When we asked about their affection for a digital reading device for fun reading (not schoolwork) if the price were affordable, 46% said they preferred printed books. Another 38% said they would like one, and 16% indicated they were not sure how they felt about this.

When asked if they’d like to read textbooks as e-books, they were evenly split, with 36% saying yes, 33% saying they were not sure, and 31% saying they would not be interested.

Nearly one-quarter (24%) have read an e-book, while 27% would like to read one. Almost half (49%) said they have no interest in reading e-books.

When asked how they have read an e-book, 26% have done so on a computer while 33% used a dedicated digital reading device and 5% used another method. Seven out of 10 (71%) say they have never read one.”

Although these findings may suggest YA readers are uninterested in e-books, I think it’s important to note that these statistics are higher than the adult adoption/interest in e-readers. Moreover, with the proliferation of iPhone apps and the like for younger children, it’s likely the number of teens reading e-books will increase fairly quickly over the next few years (my kidlet does not have any iPhone apps, but he does have his own toy iPhone).

Are you on Team Book-Book or Team E-book? Do you use an e-reader? How do you read on it? Are print books just words, or a full experience?

Read more of my thoughts on the Kindle & other e-readers:

• Penguin & the iPad: Taking Books to the Next Level, or Leaving them in the Dust?
• Amazon vs. Apple: the War on E-book Pricing and the YA Market
• Book Love & the Kindle: a Match Made in Purgatory?

Image via Amazon