I’m a luddite where books are concerned. I have a kindle solely because the spousalthorp got lovingly irritated with me on our Hawaii honeymoon when I read all the books I had packed and we had to go the furthest away from our hotel on the island to the only bookstore, and THEN pack all the books to take with us. They took up a suitcase on their own. I begrudginly concede he may have had a point.
That said, I accidentally bought Gulp on Kindle and didn’t realize it could be undone until after I opened it.
Pros:
I got to read when the octolet dragged me to a christmas display at costco and wouldn’t leave for (no lie, I timed it) 22 straight minutes.
Cons:
I HATE READING BOOKS THAT AREN’T BOOKS. I need pages to turn! I need non-backlit surfaces! I tend to glaze over screens and retain less information than I would with a paper book. I get even more distracted by footnotes than usual. I need the tactile sensation of knowing how far I am through a book without looking at the page count (I feel like looking at the number is cheating or a bad sign in the same way that checking your watch during a movie is, but I also like to know. Yes, I do have anxiety, how did you know?)
So, I’m trying my best to separate the book from the medium, which made for a stop-and-start read. I love Mary Roach, and if you’ve read one of her books you know what to expect tonally, but some of the footnotes here were real groaners. But I also think they’re groaners in the same way dad jokes are. Some hit and some miss but you have to roll your eyes at both with a begrudging smile. I liked it, but I’d have liked it more as a physical book.
