The Passion Without the Paper

I have turned a corner that I didn’t know existed. I’m not sure when this happened, whether it was gradual or all of a sudden, but I am now more likely to pick up my e-reader rather than a paper book when I’m in the mood to read. In part, it has to do with the selection available on my kindle – new authors, old favorites and samples in a neat list that doesn’t require much thought. A simple click, and I’m submerged.

This is a milestone for me. I’ve always been a reader. Entire walls in my parents’ home are paved in books. They fill the room under the stairs, stand sentinel on beside tables and, when those get full, are lowered to a post beneath the beds (guarding from monsters and whatnot). I’ve moved over a dozen times since I left my parents’ home. Each time I moved, whether it was across town or across the country, my first concern was how I would transport my books. The weight of books, the solidity of them, is a comfort. But that’s separate from the story.

It felt like a betrayal at first, when I pride myself on loyalty. I can identify individual books by color scheme, by the sound of each spine as it’s opened. But I primarily read from electronics. Some books, of course, have to be had in paper. The covers are too beautiful, the stories too complex, to ever be turned off and set aside. But adventure and love, pain and triumph, are bigger than a handful of plastic and wire.

Some people need the paper, the tactile association being a part of the reading experience for them. For me it’s the depth of character, the joy of discovery, the turn of a phrase that clicks with my brain that matters. Some stories could be written in smoke in the sky and I’d stop my life for a week to read every last word.

What do you require in your reading experience? Can you have the passion without the paper?

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About the Author

Regan Summers lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and alien-monkey hybrid of a child. She loves reading, traveling, small plate dining and terrible action movies.

Her Night Runner series from Carina Press is available wherever e-books are sold.

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