Reading on paper or screen

[scotrace]

I'm happy to be able to grab some works in digital form, mostly free (out of copyright). Now I have a full collection of Whitman's works, and U.S. Grant's autobiography, and some Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde and P.G. Wodehouse. I grabbed a copy of Last of the Mohicans to finally read. All in my iBooks collection. But I still find I just don't stick with it. It works for poetry, because you go there and read bits. But digital works don't hold my attention. I forget I'm reading a digital book, maybe because it is an app, rather than a book?
I've recently finished an Eisenhower bio and The Fault in Our Stars, and am slogging through some of Deitrich Bonhoffer's works and a Dorothy Parker bio (excellent), on paper. Paper books, I read right through. Unless it's Kerouac. Paper or digital, On The Road's fame is a mystery.

 

[Harp]

Grant's autobiography is extraordinary. Exceptionally well written by a man who staved his soul on Lucifer's pike
and wrote with a troubled conscience while Death tugged at his sleeve.

Oscar Wilde's The Artist As Critic features a critique of Whitman titled The Gospel According to Walt Whitman,
which glimpses Wildean envy similar to that of his Elizabeth Barrtett Browning comment in English Poetesses.

Edith Wharton's introduction to Ethan Frome should be required grammar school reading.

Kerouac, agreed. His iconic stature, like Burroughs, is tenuous at best; though the Beats have some rhyme if not reason.

 

[HadleyH]

Oh Lordee above....I have to admit I am reading on both....paper and tablet.... but still buying paper books, I will not stop that!

 

[Matt Crunk]

My wife has a Kindle tablet and enjoys reading that way, but not me. I read a lot online every day, but not when it comes to books. I have to sit down with a printed book in hand to enjoy it. A couple of times when I've downloaded public domain classics for free, I had to print them out to read them. Just couldn't enjoy them any other way.

 

[Retro Spectator]

I personally hate everything being digital. Sure it might seem convenient, but it really isn't. Electronics need electricity, in the form of a battery, or a plug. Paper needs nothing. Computers can get infected with malware. Books cannot be infected. Books cannot break, unless torn or hacked up. Books are cheaper. Books are superior.

 

[Feraud]

My 20 year old is on summer break from classes.
Last week he comes home with an arm full of books. Real books, not the digital fluff..
I'd say he's in the "reading on paper" camp.

 

[Harp]

"...her art's immortality is life's disintegration...there is a peculiar, haunting challenge.."
Robert Lowell, Foreward to Ariel

Revisiting Ariel this morning; Sylvia Plath vaguely recalls the character of Eustacia Vye from Hardy's The Return of The Native.:coffee:

 

[MJCR]

I work in publishing so eReaders are great for manuscripts etc. As a one-time (long-time) bookseller, I must confess I do prefer the physical book but have quite happily adapted to reading in either format.

 

[Bushman]

I prefer reading a book or magazine in physical format. Something about the smell of a book really gets to me. However, I do not abstain from electronic reading.

 

[scottyrocks]

I am currently reading through Charolette Bronte's catalog. I can't imagine reading Jane Eyre (1847) on tablet.

 

[Dan Allen]

I never read digital if at all possible. It is just not the same, and besides after a page or two my eyes seem to go in strike.
I have just finished " Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest " by Wade Davis. The book, about the first English expeditions to Everest was so heavily laced with WWI history that I ended up having several of my history books beside me for reference while reading. I cannot imagine that being a convenient option without having more than one digital reader

 

[WesternHatWearer]

Paper, Paper, Paper and did I mention the paper. I have found I do not retain information as well if I attempt to study using a screen. For me having a tangible object to read, make notes on and so forth allows me to better connect with the material.

 

[GHT]

My wife is a prolific reader, both books and electronic. I detest electronic books, but, if a kindle encourages a youngster to become a regular reader, then I'm all for that. We know a good many younger people that have worked 'backwards' in their music purchase and appreciation. From downloads to CD's and onto vinyl, no reason why the same can't happen with the written word.

 

[Edward]

My wife is a prolific reader, both books and electronic. I detest electronic books, but, if a kindle encourages a youngster to become a regular reader, then I'm all for that. We know a good many younger people that have worked 'backwards' in their music purchase and appreciation. From downloads to CD's and onto vinyl, no reason why the same can't happen with the written word.

Exactly. And hey, as I'm sure we've all said before.... if they're reading quality literature, does itg matter that it's in electronic form? (And, conversely, what value tripe like Fifty Shades if it's on paper?).

 

[LizzieMaine]

(And, conversely, what value tripe like Fifty Shades if it's on paper?).

Well, when civilization falls and we run out of toilet paper, all those copies of Fifty Shades are bound to come in handy. You can't do *that* with a Kindle.

 

[Edward]

Well, when civilization falls and we run out of toilet paper, all those copies of Fifty Shades are bound to come in handy. You can't do *that* with a Kindle.

:lol:

Bien sur. I didn't think of that!

 

[GHT]

Well, when civilization falls and we run out of toilet paper, all those copies of Fifty Shades are bound to come in handy. You can't do *that* with a Kindle.

My Godson, a twenty-eight-year-old, is not exactly a bookworm, but since he has had a Kindle his appetite for reading has known no bounds. I text him telling him about this thread. He looked it up and text back: “They are simply confusing the plate for the food,” he opined. Now if that was an original thought, I am impressed.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Well, when civilization falls and we run out of toilet paper, all those copies of Fifty Shades are bound to come in handy. You can't do *that* with a Kindle.

[video=youtube;GSHEaet0Rhw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSHEaet0Rhw[/video]

 

[HadleyH]

Lately on screen

reading him Michael Savage.....hearing his show sometimes


adore him may GOD bless him forever and forever

that's all

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Lately on screen

reading him Michael Savage.....hearing his show sometimes


adore him may GOD bless him forever and forever

that's all

The only way I can listen to him is online because none of the local radio stations carry him anymore.
I love Savage's anecdotes about growing up in New York in the '50s.