Books less engrossing on a kindle

[David Evil Overlord]

I've become so used to reading on my kindle, I've sometimes pressed the edge of the page on a paper book, and wondered why the page won't turn...oh, right...

 

[psikeyhackr]

But when you don't notice the writing - isn't that when we know it's good?

I am inclined to say yes but I think that is an oversimplification based on my biases. I think Mack Reynolds is a poor writer but a great science fiction story teller. Now and then I will hit a bump in one of his stories and think, "that is really poor writing." I didn't get that with Andre Norton. But I mostly decided her stuff was boring in high school before I discovered Reynolds. I just skimmed over some more of her works when I found them in Project Gutenberg.

So a reader has to decide for him/herself what is "Good" an the basis of his/her value system.

So many people seem to talk as though we are all supposed to have the same value system. I acknowledge that people have the right to not give a damn about the science in science fiction. I just kill them with my gamma ray laser.

psik

 

[Nick B]

Also, one of the main reasons i love my kindle app is that i have a pocket full of books ALL the time, no need to even think to pick anything else up. Got five minutes spare, out comes the phone to read. Waitin for the wife? Time to read. Dinner break? Downtime? Bored at work? Out comes my pocket library.
My most recent purchases were the entire works of poe and lovecraft, and for the princely sum of £ 1.76 for the pair, well... I'm looking to get some wheatley next, hopefuly nice and cheap

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I must get a bigger pocket for my Kindle DXG
But actually as I rarely go anywhere except to do something that precludes reading, it's not a problem.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I must get a bigger pocket for my Kindle DXG
But actually as I rarely go anywhere except to do something that precludes reading, it's not a problem.

That is why I think 7" tablets should be the most popular. It just fits into most of my pants' pockets and doesn't need power like a phone. If the battery dies I don't get too upset.

 

[Venusian Broon]

The only e-reading I do is on my PC screen and I don't even like reading short stories with that set-up, but I'm sure if I crossed over to a dedicate e-reader then I'm sure I could get used to it very quickly and really not notice...

...however I have a complex set of emotions and feelings for the printed words over the electronic one. To take an analogy, there's more to food than just nutrition and fuel; there's how it looks, the appetising smell, the texture... There's a whole richness lost in e-reading in my eyes, the tactile sensation of handling the page, the smell of an aged book, books as beautiful objects just to look at!

Say I was offered three hundred books - if I were given then in paper form it would feel like Christmas to me. To get the exact same books on a Kindle as digital files, I'm much more on the 'meh' side of emotions. (Even given my current lack of space in my flat)

I offer this explanation: See, I'm not a Christian. Never been baptised, never been conferred by any church on any major event on my life, in fact never ever been to a bog standard Sunday service. My family were all good wholesome atheists/agnostics. But during all my childhood we all went religiously to the local library every two weeks to swap our four (or was it five, I'm hazy on the number we were allowed) old previous choices with a new selection. To me the library is my temple. It was a tiny little place, but it was choked full of row upon row of books, whole universes of adventures and ideas, people lives and descriptions of faraway exotic places. Practically all hardback and with that 'library' smell. It was always joyful experience, full of excitement and mystery! and I couldn't wait to get back and get stuck in to start reading. I still get the 'aftershocks' of all that looking at a pile of books now.

I'm not sure this sort of thing goes on as much as I think it used to. You have to remember this was the late 70s/early 80s and the world was different. Only three channels on the telly, no computers (unless you counted Simon the electronic game), radio was ruled by Radio 1 and massive multi-player on-line games only took place in the real world with your friends, usually on bikes. Books then were huge parts of my entertainment at the time.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

But when you don't notice the writing - isn't that when we know it's good?

I also have to politely disagree with Mouse - for me there is a huge difference between reading on my kindle app ( and from what I've tried on others' kindles), and I find it horrid, frankly. But I have dry-eyes syndrome which isn't helped by the time I stare at screens. But, bottom line, the e-versions simply don't feel like I'm reading a book.

I'm in the I don't care how I read it camp.

And no I don't think the writing has to be good as such just good enough to allow me get engrossed in the story.

 

[willwallace]

I don't believe that the difference between ebooks and physical ones affects how I like a story or not. These days I tend to get ebooks due to space considerations, and use a Kindle Fire hdx 8.9" for the majority of my reading. Increasing font size is a huge plus for me, over printed material.

 

[HareBrain]

But when you don't notice the writing - isn't that when we know it's good?

Just to add my tuppence to this -- not necessarily. The quality of writing can have a negative effect on a reader's experience without being noticed as the cause.

I came across an example last week where a reader initially thought a paragraph repetitive and overlong, but couldn't account for this impression, as all the sentences said different things and were all necessary to understanding what was going on. Further examination revealed that all seven-or-so sentences had the same structure, and it was this deadening rhythm that the reader had picked up on without realising it.

And on the other hand, I don't think you'd say the same about poetry, but I think there's a grey area between the two -- many pieces of blank verse could be turned into rich prose if you joined the lines together. And personally I have no problem with the occasional line in a novel that's so brilliant I notice it, just like a particularly stunning piece of camerawork in a film. It might pull me out of the story a little, but it's not like it then takes me an hour to get back into it. Of course too often, or in the wrong place, and it would become annoying. But coming across a noticeably striking way of expressing something, especially something commonplace, is one of the joys of reading, for me.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

I've become so used to reading on my kindle, I've sometimes pressed the edge of the page on a paper book, and wondered why the page won't turn...oh, right...

At a friend's place recently, I was handed a small framed picture to look at. Just for a joke, I tried swiping it several times.

But getting back on topic, to the extent that there's any actual research to back this claim, I'd bet a lot of it has to do with what you grew up with. Dag nab it, if papyrus was good enough for grampa, it's good enough for me!

I like the feel of a book, because I have decades of positive reinforcement. But the convenience of a tablet with the Kindle app is hard to beat. Whether I enjoy or remember the actual story better? If there's a difference, it's too subtle to stress about.