Real book or kindle???

I love my Kindle and living abroad, it is a real lifeline. I love finding a book, downloading it and starting to read in minutes. We have several thousand books and I do re-read them, but very rarely buy a new book these days. We have boxes of books to get rid of and find it hard to get anyone to take them so I am reluctant to buy more.
Jingl, you need to set up some categories on Kindle to store the books. I have fiction, non-fiction, crime and biography as files, put books I have read into these and keep current reads / unread on the front page. Easy!

I don't get so much time to read these days so probably would never get round to a book.

I download free books onto my kindle and they pass the time in doctor/hospital waiting rooms! I also read several on holiday last year but am not likely to go again until (maybe) next year.

BIG bonus with the kindle is definitely enlarging the print size which makes reading so much easier.

Love both, about half and half. still love book shops though, and buy paperbacks regularly.

That's really good to know ga. Especially with Christmas coming. DGS2 loves his "screen". (for games and funny videos on You Tube ) An alternative from the usual would be worth a try. Great idea.

No preference, both are wonderful in different ways. I used to take virtually no spare clothes with me on holiday because my suitcase was full of books - now, there's no problem as I simply take my kindle and iPad.

One thing of note though; with one exception my children are all avid readers. Last Christmas I bought a kindle for the one who wasn't a keen reader, and truth to tell it was only at the end of August that it even got registered, such was the lack of interest! However, it was finally registered in August in order to be taken on holiday and now I have a reading convert who rarely puts it down!

True.

Kindles are useful no doubt about that, but honestly books seem to have a relationship with you somehow

I seem to be going back to books. You see the title and the author each time you pick it up for one thing.

And the Home page on the kindle gets messy. All those books you.bought but will never really want to read. Or will turn out to be rubbish. And I can never get "Remove from device" to work.

I'm happy to have both but the kindle which fits in the handbag is a blessing for the 45 min bus journey I take several times a week to help with Dgcs.
Once or twice I've forgotten to pick up reading specs on the way out and that's a real problem with a book or newspaper. With the kindle I simply enlarge the text and carry on reading although of course it means 'turning the page ' more often!

I am the same mrsmopp and then I feel a little guilty as it was a present,I just don't enjoy reading on it as much as when I hold a proper book.

I too love that I can carry my Kindle in my handbag so easily, but I never worry if I forget it because I've always got my iPhone with me and I make sure my current books are downloaded to it, so I just read that if I'm waiting around for someone or something

My son bought me a Kindle last Christmas and I was delighted. I promptly downloaded lots of free classics as well as various others I had always intended to read. Guess what - i never look at the kindle - i went straight back to books. I can't give a reason why as I have surprised myself, but I am a bookworm not a kindle worm. I just dont like it.

Real books every time for me!

I agree there is room for both but sometimes Kindle is really worth having. A couple of months ago most of Jane Duncan's, previously out of print books in the My Friend series were re-issued mainly I think for the e-book market. The Kindle costs around £4while the paperback is £12. As I would like to re-read them all the Kindle ones will save a lot of money.
Also any e-book I buy is automatically also put on my iPad which is great for cookery books.

I think there is room for both in our lives. Kindle's are so handy for travelling etc, but nothing beats the feel and smell of a real book.
As an avid reader, I am so glad I have both options.

anno is The Spool of Blue Thread any good?

I have a lot of history books that I like to dip into from time to time, at the moment I have A N Wilson's Queen Victoria by the side of my bed, I imagine Kindle's are very much a device for novels rather than factual reference books. I quite like the idea that the print can be made larger, I hate small print.

My step daughter works for a very large publishing company and when the whole Kindle phenomenon kicked off we often discussed the pros and cons of Kindles, she was very aware of ebook sales increasing their stake in the market, and as a "reading" commuter she always found hers invaluable, as it slips into her handbag in the way that a book couldn't. I have been contemplating getting one for a good few years given how many books we cart with us on holiday, both husband and I are avid readers. It now seems the trend is reversing somewhat and people are falling back in love with the physical book, I still contemplate getting a Kindle, but if I have read a book that I very much enjoyed I think would want that book on my shelf. I do love my books!

I love my Kindle. It is specially good for books that would otherwise be very bulky. I've just finished the Booker-short-listed A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler which is very long and would be difficult to read in bed and especially with slightly achey hands and wrists, but Kindle can be held in one hand. I do have a 'to-be-read' pile of paperbacks beside the bed as well.

I keep my Kindle in my handbag. It is ideal for whipping out and reading when stuck in queues, wailing in car parks, doctors/dentist surgery etc.

Last week I found myself in a long wait at the supermarket check out because there was a very elderly couple in front of me with a very full trolley, eventually two staff members came over and emptied their trolley and packed their shopping for them. I just whipped out my Kindle and read 2 chapters while waiting. Others in the queue behind me were restless and a bit irritated but I was completely unbothered.

I cannot envisage ever leaving the house with out my Kindle. I used to always carry a book, but they can be both heavy and bulky in a handbag. My Kindle is my constant companion.

However I do read an awful lot of books, piled by my bed, on the coffee table and on my desk. books are tactile and delicious, but a Kindle is always handy.

I bought DH a Kindle last Christmas (I have one) in the hopes that I could be spared trying to find space for yet more books. He refuses to buy books for it ! When we go away he takes his Kindle and his book ggrr !

I suppose they are both OK, kindle for convenience but books for tactile, and smell. I also love to see them in my bookcase.

A place for both. I have the kindle for holiday and cheap books,and it is light to put in my handbag, but still love real books the rest of the time.

Both. I love my kindle and will be taking it on holiday with me next week but I do like the feel of a book as well and especially like history books, which I like to read as well as fiction, to be a real book not on a kindle. I think it's nice to have the best of both worlds. However cookery books they are evil!

No, certainly not for recipes!

There is nothing like a real cookery book, with splodges of cake mix, sauce mix, the odd splash of wine etc.