The Great (e-book) Debate

A couple of Saturday's ago I was waiting for my oil to be changed reading Sense and Sensibility (I love Jane Austen) on my Kindle.  Adjacent to me, also waiting for his car, there was a guy reading a huge hard-cover book.  We were both minding our own business, absorbed in our stories, when a middle-aged woman walks into the waiting area and asks us if we are together.  At first it amused me that she assumed we were together just because we were both sitting there reading.  But then she started saying (to the guy) how nice it was to see a young person with a book and how she prefers paper books while looking down her nose at me because I was using an e-reader. 

Here's the thing: I prefer printed books as well.  I love just spending time in a bookstore or library surrounded by books.  The smell, the feeling in your hands, the whole experience of physically choosing a book from so many.  I still buy books and always will and I dream of having a huge study one day with walls of built in bookcases stuffed to the brim. 

But I love my Kindle too.  I am always on the go and I used to carry around a book in my purse at all times. That is an amount of pressure that neither my back nor my purse can handle (and I have many ripped and broken purses as proof).  I also like that you can download novels that have become public domain for free.  There are always so many books that I want to read and I never have enough money for all of them.  So I like that I can finally read books that I've always wanted to but got put on the back-burner due to my budget.  Basically, I am a practical person and e-readers are full of conviences that I appreciate in my busy and hectic life.

I don't see why it has to be one or the other.  Anybody should be able to choose the forum that best fits their needs.  The story is what's important here.  I read because I love exploring new settings, meeting new characters, getting lost in the language of a well-written story.  Where I am reading from pales in significance to what as I am reading.  As long as I'm reading I'm happy.