Confession: I love physical books
In a recent issue of Lincoln Michel’s Counter Craft, he interviewed author Benjamin Percy, who said, “I was on a plane the other month, rustling through the New York Times Book Review, and the person sitting next to me said, ‘You don’t see too many of them anymore.’ It took me a second to process what they were talking about. A newspaper. A physical newspaper. It was an antiquated novelty? I’ve had people make similar remarks when they observe me reading novels in public. I can’t help but increasingly feel that I am in the horse-and-buggy business, so I might as well lean into it.”
While I read the Times and all my other news online, it’s very rare for me to buy an ebook. I much prefer physical books.
In part, that’s because I already stare at a screen for 11+ hours a day on average, between work and writing. The last thing I want to do is read a book on my phone. I know Kindles are much easier on the eyes, but if you’ve seen any of my book reviews, you know I love to dog-ear and put Post-its in my books so I can easily find the best passages.
But I also agree with Benjamin that physical books are like mementos that remind us of the first time we read them and who gave them to us. They’re also a form of interactive autobiographical art. For instance, when someone sees the books on the shelves behind my desk, that tells them something about me.
While we don’t have a library room (my wife Kate would love to have the library out of The Beauty & The Beast), we do have a room’s worth of books scattered across the 15 bookshelves throughout our house—two of which are guarded by our homemade Rubik’s Cube Charizard.
We also have a Little Free Library. Honestly, Kate was the driving force behind setting that up. I was really skeptical it would see much use. But it totally has. I walk by it multiple times a day when I walk our dog, Peppa Pug, and the books are regularly turning over. It’s a joy to see so many people getting use out of it, including kids. If you’ve been on the fence about setting one up, I encourage you to go for it.
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