In the same part of the brain that feels compelled to clean your apartment before you host company, you might think twice about what your reading library says about you. But that kind of self-inspection only happened in the old days when your literary choices were broadcast on book spines across your shelves—now, eReaders and eBooks keep your reading habits hidden. Can you guess what embarrassing literary genres are thriving under the privacy shade of digital books?
According to this article on the Economist, romance novels and crime blockbusters are becoming especially popular with the rise in eBooks. These un-intellectual guilty-pleasure genres can be enjoyed without abandon now that your books covers are hidden within the digital walls of your Kindle, iPad or Nook.
At the same time, easy access to eBooks is able to widen your literary scope. In my case, I love the risk-free ability to download book samples on my Nook Color—often the first chapter or several pages of a book—to take titles for a test drive. It's allowed me to explore new genres almost every day from the (dis)comfort of a subway train, whether or not I have a chance to visit a brick-and-mortar bookstore.
The retail landscape of eBook sales has also seemingly had an effect on what people are reading. Previously, customers looking to buy a particular title might be limited to a $25 hard cover book, if it was the first edition released. Now, most new titles are available on Amazon the same day they're shipped to stores, often at a steep discount.
What about you? Are you finding that making the move to reading eBooks has had an effect on what titles you choose? Why? Tell us in the comments!
(Images: Still Have a Bookshelf or Have You Gone eBook?, Flickr user Geir Halvorsen under license from Creative Commons)
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Comments (8)
I don't think the move to e-books has changed what I am reading, but it is nice to have less people in the airport asking you what you are reading.
I recently started reading a hardback that I checked out from our work library. I was surprised how much I disliked it - it was heavy, I couldn't use the dictionary to look up a word or two and I couldn't search for the name of a minor character as easily as an e-book would allow.
"These un-intellectual guilty-pleasure genres [...]"
Seriously? Damn, what are *you* reading for making for a judgement-filled statement?
And while I'm at it, I'm sure you meant that those 'un-intellectual' books can be read *with* abandon, and not without.
One way or another, I've never been ashamed of my reads and too bad for the other people on the bus if my book covers bothered them.
What has changed about my reading habit is that I read more. I always have a little library on my phone, all day, every day, so I am always prepared if some unexpected free time presents itself. I am finally almost done with Shelby Foot's The Civil War: A Narrative, an enormous three volumes that always seemed daunting in their physical form. As ebooks, they made for surprisingly quick reading.
Also, I have read more "classics" over the last couple of years. They are free! (Thanks, Michael Hart and Project Gutenberg. Rest easy, friend.)
I started reading more when I bought my Kindle for a trip abroad. I also have the iPhone app which is great. I do most of my reading on the Kindle, but if I have to sit through a boring seminar, I can usually read a bit.
I absolutely love the ability to search for minor characters. I am awful with names and this really helps since it allows me to get the context quickly. I haven't read my non-fiction or biography on the Kindle, but I know when I read a few "real" books from that genre, the search would have made a huge difference.
I love that by having a Kindle and buying e-books I can have all of my books with me at all times.
I might be reading them on the Kindle on my phone or at my computer, it's all good.
I still read the same types of books, I've always been big into mysteries and science fiction / fantasy.
Having a Kindle has indeed changed my reading habits. I like downloading previews and reading them at my leisure- no more snap judgments which I gravitated toward at the bookstore or library. Also, I've surprised myself by reading a lot more older books- because some of them are free, sure, but more anything I find myself more attracted to their language than most modern fiction writers.
Also, I have to agree with another commenter, large tomes are a lot less intimidating in electronic format. I'm whizzing through The Brothers Karamazov at record speed, whereas the print version always intimidated me. Having a dictionary built in makes it even easier. Can Ulysses be far behind?
The Economist article states that, "the biggest problem, though, is the gradual disappearance of the shop window" and that really is the biggest argument we've all been facing: whether holding a book changes how you perceive it. I won't buy a book without reading the first few pages; that capability has been on Amazon.com for a long time, but only on a limited number of titles. It's the publishers or platforms that allow you to sample the product before you purchase that will survive and flourish. This is part of a pendulum, though. At some point we will swing in another direction. Humanity always does.
Absolutely. My Kindle is for fun. But if I need to study or learn something, I need paper, and sticky notes, and 17 book markers, and and and ...