Kindle v/s Paperback: Who wins?

I’m as much of a book lover as they come but I also own a kindle which always puts me in a dilemma when I’m looking to purchase a particular book: should I save space and money in my home and get an eBook or should I indulge in my love for physical books and get a paperback?

I got a Kindle for probably the same reasons pretty much everybody else does: having an e-reader makes buying books super, super easy, and you can’t beat the portability. I had mixed feelings about the decision, though. What if getting an e-reader turned me from my beloved books? Would reading become an irresistibly convenient but somehow less joyful experience?

Here are some of the good parts about owning an eReading device:

Portability. You can jam as many books as you please, take it on an airplane, and it still weighs the same. Which sure beats carrying three or four books on a long trip, especially when you’re making a mad dash through the airport because you’re about to miss your flight.

• Convenience. As long as you have a wi-fi connection, you can read whatever book you want to, right then and there.

• New releases tend to be cheaper on an e-reader than in traditional book form, owing to the whole thing about e-books not having, you know, a physical essence.

• Lots of classic novels, which have entered the public domain, are free on the Kindle. Lots of other not-classic books are also free on the Kindle, although maybe they are terrible.

• If you read all classic novels, you probably won’t care about this, but if you’re like me and your taste occasionally runs towards the incredibly low-brow, it’s nice that having an e-reader keeps everyone on the train from knowing that you are reading a tell-all penned by a reality television star.

All that being said, A real book is much nicer to take to bed with you than an e-reader. And, if you love a book enough to keep it, it stays on your shelf, like an old friend that you can stop by and visit whenever you like. Of course your Kindle books are always in your library too, but they will never catch your eye on a rainy day. You’ll never bond over them with a friend at a dinner party. They’re just a list.