It is a universally acknowledged rule in my house that in the event of fire or flood the following order applies; Children, Dog, Husband and Kindle (in that order!) The Kindle has very quickly become an integral part of my everyday life. However, the physical book still plays an important part in both my personal and working life and I understand that to love the written word is to love the physical book. In light of my love of the e-book, imagine my surprise when I came to purchase the Covens October Pick ('Salem's lot by Stephen King) from Amazon to find the Kindle edition cost £5.99! This book is over 30 years old! I find it hard to understand why a book this old and therefore with numerous editions in circulation is so expensive on digital format, a brand new Stephen King paperback perhaps but not one of his originals.
I obtained a copy from my local library, this particular edition dates from 1982 and has been rebound and recovered numerous times. The pages are brittle, yellowed and have a rather musty smell which indicates the length of time it has languished on the shelf. It has become the butt of of the Covens jokes as they surmise as to the nature of the mysterious stains (and you thought men were juvenile!) But here is the thing, I don't care! I have kind of grown fond of the fragile pages and tiny words. The greatest joy has been how the physical appearance has somewhat helped add to the atmosphere within the story. A jaded town = the yellowed appearance; The Marsten House = the musty smell; the town of 'salem = the brittle pages. To turn the pages is to carefully weave through the the fragile town that, at 200 pages in , I know will soon be decimated by forces not yet seen!
So yes, I adore my Kindle, but I also appreciate that every few books it does no harm to dip back into the physical book, especially if those books belong in a time when the paperback was King.
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