Embarassed to be Carting Around a Hardcover Book?

[minspargal]

I prefer reading on my pocket Sony (and i do get inquiries some times) but i have no qualms about reading a hardcover. Proud to be a reader!

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

(I've so far seen a total of 0 ereaders in the wild, in case you were wondering )

Plenty of choice in shops (iPod/iPad/Sony/Bookeen to mention a few) but not one have I seen being used....

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Plenty of choice in shops (iPod/iPad/Sony/Bookeen to mention a few) but not one have I seen being used....

Saw 5 in the last 8 weeks when commuting. 1 Pocketbook 360, 1 Sony PRS-650, 1 Kindle DX and 2 Kindles. Makes me feel like being a member of a very exclusiv club

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

Someone recently suggested I read "Crawlspace," an older horror novel available only in hardcover. Someone else suggested I read Crash of the Titans, which is $14.99 in ebook form. So, I reserved both in Hardcover from the library. Now, Crawlspace is probably better read late at night, but I am really into Crash of Titans, and don't think I can finish it today. So, do I lug it back and forth or do I read something else on the train? Aside from the physical discomfort, I have been such an ereader proponent, it feels kind of disloyal.

Do you feel funny reading a physical book?

Good heavens, no.

I still own, and buy lots of paper books, including hardcovers. For me, ebooks are an additional format, and not a replacement for paper books. I do tell people the advantage to ebooks is that you don't have to call the paramedics if my unread stack of ebooks topples over on me. (The unread hardcover stack is another matter.)

The problem with carting around a hardcover isn't embarrassment or imagined disloyalty - it's weight and bulk. They are fine for reading at home in the comfort of a chair, but less fine to carry around.

Read whatever you want to read, in whatever form you can get it in.
______
Dennis

[wvcherrybomb]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I am now seriously feeling left out that no one ever asks me about my device!

It may depend on where you live. If you live in an urban area where people are familiar with ereaders they would be less likely to ask about it. As for me, I live in Illiterateville, FL where my K3 has been mistaken for everything from a mirror ( do I really look that vain?) to a cell phone.

[ATDrake]

Depends on how lurid the cover is (I read Baen; I have a high threshold).

Seriously, never. I'm pleased to be reading, and have the leisure time to read, and am lucky to have neither physical issues nor any other qualms that might make reading paper books difficult.

Mind you, I rarely if ever cart hardcovers around simply because they're an inconvenient size to lug around with the other stuff in my backpack if I'm going out.

Only if the book's very compelling; otherwise it's PB or Kindle for my portable/public transit reading.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Plenty of choice in shops (iPod/iPad/Sony/Bookeen to mention a few) but not one have I seen being used....

Same here. And the Chapters in Burlington is always sold out of Kobo's, but not one have I seen outside other than at the office where my boss brings hers in.

[lene1949]

People, who are interested in books, will always ask "What are you reading?"... If you're using an e-reader, they'll only ask if they know it's an e-reader (not many people do, yet).. If they're curious about electronics, they'll ask "What is that thing?"

That's here in Australia from personal experiences.

[captkjaneway]

The locals on the MTR in Hong Kong have generally got their noses in their mobiles/iPhones/iPads or the freebie newspapers, so to see anyone reading a book of any kind is a wow moment.

I do get a few stares with my K3, but then again I am a big, buxom gweilo girl, so stares may be for me rather than the item in my hand! Can't wait to do Tokyo.....

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by lene1949

People, who are interested in books, will always ask "What are you reading?"... If you're using an e-reader, they'll only ask if they know it's an e-reader (not many people do, yet).. If they're curious about electronics, they'll ask "What is that thing?"

That's here in Australia from personal experiences.

I get that ALOT. I also put a decal girl skin on my Nook, so that attracts alot of attention as well. Alot of other attorneys want to know which device it is, why i picked it, etc etc. The first question i usually get is "is that one of those e-reader things?" or, more irksomely, "is that a kindle?"

[ManosHandsOfFate]

"Embarrassed" is kind of a strong word. I see quite a few ereaders on my commute but most people reading books are reading pbooks. I don't know why anyone would feel embarrassed to be reading a hardcover. I won't tote one with me just because they're so annoyingly heavy.

[boxcorner]

Surely whether or not someone feels embarrassed depends partly on the book in question, and the circumstances. A person carrying a copy of The Communist Manifesto, by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, during the period of McCarthyism in the US of the late 1950s, might have felt embarrassed, or uncomfortable. Similarly, I imagine that some people today would feel embarrassed, or uncomfortable, to be seen carrying a copy of The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, by Vatsyayana, say for example in a church, synagogue or mosque.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by boxcorner

Surely whether or not someone feels embarrassed depends partly on the book in question, and the circumstances. A person carrying a copy of The Communist Manifesto, by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, during the period of McCarthyism in the US of the late 1950s, might have felt embarrassed, or uncomfortable. Similarly, I imagine that some people today would feel embarrassed, or uncomfortable, to be seen carrying a copy of The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, by Vatsyayana, say for example in a church, synagogue or mosque.

I think it depends on the book and the person in question. I am not embarassed to commute with 'Venus in furs' but I would be seriously ashamed if someone ever saw me with one of those Vampire/Potter/Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy books. Actually I would die if someone ever thought I read something like that. Imagine how shameful it must be to have the gift of reading and to use it without using your brain!

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

I think it depends on the book and the person in question. I am not embarassed to commute with 'Venus in furs' but I would be seriously ashamed if someone ever saw me with one of those Vampire/Potter/Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy books. Actually I would die if someone ever thought I read something like that. Imagine how shameful it must be to have the gift of reading and to use it without using your brain!

Sounds like someone who hasn't had the joy of reading one of those Vampire/Potter/Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy books.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Sounds like someone who hasn't had the joy of reading one of those Vampire/Potter/Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy books.

Don't worry I had a proper childhood with Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson! I can perfectly well understand what fascination H.P. holds for children, I can not see why a grown up is wasting their time with it. Believe me, there is endless joy in reading good stuff like Cervantes and Sterne, Smollet, Zola, Nabokov and a myirad of others. They are full of puns and jokes, most of them only to understand when you have read a fair share of the book that are referred to as 'Weltliteratur', so this is a joy one has to 'work' for a little bit, which makes it only sweeter. The more you read, the more you understand and enjoy.

Do you know how many people do not know how to read? Reading is a ticket to knowledge and thus wealth. To see the gift of reading wasted to read this kind of rubbish is sad. I can not imagine someone from my homecountry, I am half Senegalese, to read this kind of trash and brag about it.

But different folks...