I was all ready to come at you this morning with a giant Story Hour dump, and I still will, but I need to make a little mini rant, first. You see, I was watching Martha Stewart this morning and she had the creator of Amazon.com on to discuss the Kindle. I felt the need to come downstairs immediately and express my concern about the device. It worries me. Greatly. I've never even set eyes on the thing and yet the very thought of it gives me nightmares. Much like video killed the radio star, I'm worried that Kindle will kill the book.
I must come as no surprise that I love books. Borderline worship, even. And I'm worried that the Kindle is going to take them away from me. "But Sarah," you say, "the Kindle just brings you digital books. The story will be the same. Chill." And I totally get that. But part of the intrinsic beauty of books is the way they feel in your hand and the interaction you have with them. The texture of the cover and the feel of the pages between your fingers as you turn them. If the pages have crinkled edges or flat or are dog-eared. The wonderful bindings and the loveliness of the end papers. The way you can prop a book on your chest and it becomes a portal to another world. The way books make you feel special just to hold them, because it's like they've let you in on a secret that no one else knows.
The Kindle will bring you none of that. It's just a computer screen. Blah. Part of the reason I read is to get away from technology. Now that technology is infiltrating my pleasure. And I get that the Kindle is Greener, which is probably a big selling point, but I think that if we were only going to have one use for paper, it should be to print books. It doesn't matter how much money I have, I always feel rich when I look at my books.
And what does this mean for libraries? Small libraries like mine won't be able to afford the $399 price tag. If the Kindle explodes onto the market place like they think/hope it will, it could have a devastating effect on small rural libraries. If it becomes popular enough, it could mean the end of books and libraries as we know them. And I think that's sad. Libraries are the cornerstone of our society -- we need to work to uplift them, not destroy them. Without libraries, many communities would no longer have a place to gather or to find out even basic information. It could mean the collapse of rural America, in a way.
If all your friends have abandoned you and you have no where else to turn, you can always turn to a book. You can hug a book. Try it, it feels nice. But the Kindle doesn't look very huggable to me.
