Click here for Chapter Two

Tonight, my mom asked me what I think about the Kindle. Specifically, she wondered whether a device like this would ever be as satisfying as reading from a book with real paper pages and binding.

Well... being the former English Lit major and card-carrying Chapters-Indigo member that I am, I'm sure anyone would expect my response to be along the lines of Hell, no. And it was, more or less.

I personally would really miss the feel of a book in my hands, and the look of the printed words. I guess I'm old-school when it comes to thinking that half the joy of reading is the experience of it -- the texture of the paper, the look of the cover, the font, the way the chapters are laid out and how page breaks can impact the way you interpret a story....

I could go on.

But this is a subject of MASSIVE debate and controversy and nerdy agonizing among the literati and wannabes. And I recognize that there are all levels of literacy out there, all levels of interest in reading, period, and -- shocking thought! -- there MAY, just possibly, be people who actually do not enjoy looking at stacks and stacks of books around their homes? I mean, I certainly can't picture anyone like that, and frankly wouldn't want to associate with them, but I will allow the possibility of their existence.

The Kindle, and its conceptual friend the e-book, might do for reading what mp3 players have done for music -- that is, make it more portable and shareable, if not more accessible financially. If this technology allows people to read more often, and entices people who normally wouldn't pick up a real book to read at all, then it's a good thing. There's still a large chunk of the population who wouldn't read a newspaper on the subway, let alone hold a large flat piece of metal in front of their faces while balancing a purse / messenger bag and trying not to get flung bodily into the people around them.

To the people who point to the Kindle as an example of the print industry being on its way out, I scoff and point to Indigo's quarterly profit reports and the insane success of Oprah's book club (though I do have my own snobbish opinions about some of her picks, and the way the "masses" tend to follow her recommendations with zero thought or discernment of their own -- but there again, isn't it better that people are reading at all?)... No matter what happens with newspapers and magazines, I have no doubt that paper books are going strong.

But somehow I doubt I'm the Kindle's target audience anyway. Someone who is the proud proprietor of two 6-foot-tall bookshelves packed full, not to mention an obsessive "reading list" that has reached almost 700 titles, is not the person Amazon is trying to reel in.

The iPod, however, not only reeled me in but bought my soul and sold me several albums on iTunes as well. I've bought fewer than five albums on actual CDs in the last six or seven years, and I own nothing on vinyl. I guess my snobbery of authentic experiences only extends so far -- nobody can call me a hipster yet.

Thank God.