What is a book?

A book to me is like a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold, snowy day. It's refreshing and fills me with a sense of comfort and serenity, along with pleasure. I've always enjoyed reading books, the actual physical book, versus some elecronic copy because to me, it's a personal and intimate experience that you can't get anywhere else. I love the feel of the pages between my finger tips as I turn the page. I love the way that old books smell and crinkle when you open the cover.

Maybe it's because I don't like change, I prefer tradition. I've always read physical copies of books and when the idea came out to have books on a device like a kindle or nook or some other electric device, I wasn't too happy. I understand why people like them, they're small, easy to carry, the books are cheaper on those devices and you can store quite a few books on a single device. But what I don't understand is how readers can enjoy something that has nothing personal or intimate to it. With a physical book, you, yourself, have to carry out the motion of turning each page. You can write notes in the margins. If you like to buy used books, like I do, they may already be written in. I love when that happens because then I can see the way the readers before me interacted with the book and their thought processes and it becomes somewhat like some elite, silent circle of people around the book.

I hate the fact that ebooks are taking over, there's nothing personal about that and I want people to understand how much of a joy it is to own your own physical copy, to understand the different weights and feels, textures and fonts of books. It really is the most intimate thing that I feel I could experience, and I want everyone else to understand that the best things in life are things that don't come easy. I guess it just makes me mad that people are choosing ebooks because they're easier and quicker, but I believe that it's healtheir and more fulfilling to own a physical copy. Maybe that's just me.