Quote:
Originally Posted by Yapyap
Coming out of my years-long lurkerdom just to say you’re not alone. 
I think ebooks are starting to pick up some popularity even in Estonia, actually - with several local subscription services (Rahva Raamat and Elisa Raamat) apparently having enough users to be worth it. And I just recently came across a thread on Bluesky with people complaining about Mirko (the local library service) and how much it sucks with the ebook selection being very small, so .. there definitely are people who have embraced ebooks. I think more people read them than want to admit to it in public, possibly, because of all the sneering about “not real books” that can accompany such an admission.
But I do get the impression e-readers are uncommon enough, with people reading mostly on their phones, it seems.
My mother (she’s 71) has got bad eyesight and hasn’t been able to read paper books comfortably for years now (she’s had cataracts removed on both eyes but also has glaucoma, and has had a difficult time even getting glasses that work well enough with large text), so some years ago I got her to try ebooks and there’s no going back to paper for her. But she does read on her iPad (with large text, needing a large screen) and isn’t interested in any eInk devices as the iPad works for her.
As for the original topic … I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life (with the exception of some recent years when I was just too exhausted) but the mass market paperback was a format I always hated with passion. The tiny text, the lack of space between lines, the text going so far into the inner margins that I’d always have to wrestle with the book and crack the spine to be able to read the entire text… also, they tended to stink (“the smell of books” has never been a pro-paper-book argument for me, heh) and make my hands itchy.
So not a big loss for me, personally. I’ve very rarely bought paper books these last 15 years - no more space on the shelves, and no more space for more shelves, plus I enjoy reading ebooks! - and when I do, I want a hardcover. I guess as long as people (young people, people who can’t afford hardcovers, people who don’t have space for trade paperbacks or hardcover books) do still read books - like ebooks on their phones, even - then it’s not a big loss. But it does sort of feel like the end of the “era of the reader”, I suppose, in some way, even if it’s perhaps not. |
Great to see another Estonian here.
For my part, I loved mass market paperbacks. They were relatively lightweight, easy to hold in one hand, didn't take up much space and the small print/tight line spacing didn't bother me. But I wouldn't want to read them now, no.
And I agree with you re the stink of paper books.
Yuck.