Top 10 Things About Reading a Bookbook

 

Happy "National Read A Book" Day!

 

     Today, September 6th, is every author's dream holiday:  "National Read A Book Day".  As a little girl, I lived on a remote and isolated Indian reservation.  There was one TV channel, no phones and spotty electricity service.  (I laugh a little bit now when I think about it, because my childhood sounds like a perfect writer's retreat!) 

 

     Books were a haven for me, allowing me to go to exciting places on heart-racing adventures, all from the safety and comfort of my make-shift fort in the woods.  The nearest "library" was a one room office with 5-6 shelves of books that was almost an hour away.  Since we didn't go into town often, I re-read the books I did have a dozen or more times.  And when I got tired of those books, I resorted to reading . . . the dictionary.  I'm pretty sure next to the phrase "Word Nerd" in that dictionary, was a picture of me.

 

     In our amazing technological time, we now have access to thousands of books at the push of a button.  We can even read books on our phones (who saw that one coming?) Amazon is promising that one day soon, little flying drones will deliver books to our doorstep within hours of ordering them.  Amazing!  While e-readers practically ooze convenience, I'm still a sucker for an actual book.  I was beginning to think that I might be the only one, until I saw a cute ad by IKEA about a bookbook.

 

 

     Thus inspired, I've come up with my own "Top 10" list to extol the virtue of the "bookbook" on this "National Read a Book Day".   

 

 

Top 10 Things About Reading a Bookbook

 

1.  You don't have to sit next to a wall outlet to read a bookbook.  Bookbooks can be read anywhere, anytime, in any sort of comfortable sitting or lying position.  You won't find yourself forced to sit by an outlet on a sketchy airport floor just to read your bookbook.

 

 



 

2.  Bookbooks give you a really good reason to spend an hour sipping coffee and walking around a bookstore.  Sure, your e-book is efficient, but quiet moments spent browsing in a bookstore are one of life's greatest treasures.  Plus, if you're an introvert, a bookstore is the ideal social venue to keep your extrovert friends from worrying about you.  No, you didn't just spend the entire weekend locked in your house, you went out . . . to the bookstore.

 



 

3.  You don't have to wait for your bookbook to load before reading it.  With a bookbook, you just open the pages and BAM, you're reading.

 



 

4.  You don't have to click through advertisements every time you want to read your bookbook.  With a bookbook, you don't have to click your way through pages of ads trying to sell you books that you're not interested in reading.  Thanks to Netflix, I don't even have to watch ads to view my favorite TV show.  Why do I have to wait for ads before I earn the privilege of reading my e-book?

 



 

5.  If you lose your bookbook, you don't lose your entire reading library.  Let's face it, dogs eat books, kids destroy books.  One lost bookbook will set you back about $10.  One lost e-book, and you're looking at hundreds of bucks down the drain.

 



 



 

6.  You won't suffer a repetitive-use thumb injury from reading a bookbook.  Thumb arthritis and Cubital Tunnel Syndrome are both caused by repetitive use of the thumb.  Every time your thumb clicks that little arrow button to flip the page, you could be one step closer to wearing one of those unfortunate looking thumb gloves. 

 

 

7.  If you accidentally drop or sit down on your bookbook, the worst case scenario is that you have to pick it up.  Drop or sit down on your e-reader and it's a whole new level of heartache.  Not only is it really difficult to read a book on a shattered screen, but the cost of replacing the screen is enough to make anyone want to cry.





8.  You won't get dirty looks from the church usher if you read the Good Bookbook in church.  Bust out your iPhone and start perusing your favorite New Testament book in the middle of the sermon and you're likely to get some stern glances from anyone over 30.  Besides that, no one wants their pastor to think they're texting in the middle of his riveting Numbers sermon.

 

 

9.  Your e-reader looks ridiculous sitting all alone in the cool new bookcases you ordered for your living room.  And you've just kissed goodbye every opportunity you ever had at striking up an impromptu literary conversation with a visiting guests who notices an interesting bookbook in your collection.



10.  Passing down your entire collection of first edition, hard-back, Harry Potter bookbooks to your grandchildren is way cooler than bequeathing them a 40-year old e-reader.  Yes, even our fancy new e-readers, will some day go the wayside route of 8-track tapes and VHS.  What's new and cutting edge to us, will be like an Atari game system to future generation.  "Uh, gee, thanks, Grandma, but they don't even make software to support this thing anymore."  A good bookbook, however, is timeless.



 

     Well, I've weighed in on the e-reader vs. bookbook debate, so how about you?  What do you prefer?  At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how you read your book, as long as you read it somehow.  And if you need a good recommendation for a book to read with your kids, check out the titles listed to the left of this blog.  Available on Amazon and other sites, in both "bookbook" and "e-versions".