I know, I missed my usual weekend discussion post!  I missed it on Saturday due to a little thing called Life.  I didn’t have time to post and I got home late that evening so I figured I would just not post for the day.  Sorry about that.

I think the title of this discussion is pretty self explanatory.  Which do you prefer: print books or ebooks?

Personally, even though I have a new Kindle Paperwhite I prefer print books.  I hate how world maps format on ereaders and print books generally have more character.  What kind of character?  Well, none of my books on my Kindle have that yogurt stain on page 57 or a piece of cat hair that got stuck between the pages years ago.  Yes, paperbacks and hardcovers get damaged but for me that’s part of the appeal: they aren’t perfect and that’s okay.

Besides, when you get an autographed copy of a book your hero once held, there’s no comparable experience with an ereader.  Sure, authors can now ‘sign’ ebooks, but it’s completely not the same thing as knowing that your hero once held that book and took the time to actually sign their name and not copy and paste a signature.  How do I know this?  Well, I’m lucky enough to own a signed copy of I Never Walked Alone, the memoir of my personal hero, Shirley Verrett.  The sheer amount of emotion I felt at realizing I had accidentally obtained a signed copy was unreal.

Enough about me, though.  It’s your turn now: do you prefer print books or ebooks?  Why?  Has your opinion changed over time?

As always, you can engage with either myself or other commentors.  As long as you’re being civil, there’s absolutely no reason for me to moderate this post with a heavy hand.  Have fun!