It took me over two weeks, which is a long time for me, but I finished reading War and Peace (the Project Gutenberg edition) yesterday. I even wrote a one paragraph summary of my impressions of the book. I’m only a century or so late 🙂
I think I’ll take a break from the classics for a while now…but I’m not sure what is next on my reading list. I expected to have a couple of new books from the Science Fiction Book Club in my mail box by now, but they seem to be a bit behind. I’ve become used to always having another book standing at the ready to read- darn book club.
Maybe I’ll watch some TV…<shudder>
[tags]tolstoy, war and peace, books, reading, sfbc[/tags]
But what’s the point of reading War and Peace if you don’t have the Telephone sized book on the coffee table to impress people with? 😉
I have that all figured out
** sounds of cover being ripped off of phone book…and new inkjet-printed cover being scotch-taped back on **
War and Peace, the physical version 🙂
Seriously, though, I’m finding I can quite comfortably read using an e-Ink based electronic book reader without feeling like I’m missing much from the dead tree edition. The other nice thing is that, for the old classics at least, I find it easier to find what I want quickly and get started reading.
Newer books still under copyright…well, its sort of hit and miss. Snow Crash I was able to get (reading it now on my iLiad) and a couple of business books I wanted to read as well. Prices are comparable to normal print/paperback editions: $7 for a “normal” fiction book, and $15 to $40 for technical/business books. But only one of the Garrett, P.I. books I wanted was available, presumably because his publisher just hasn’t released anything in digital form. I ended up ordering those in “3 in 1” editions from the Science Fiction Book Club.
I’d probably read everything in e-Book form if I could get it that way. I can carry several books to and from work with me without straining my back…plus I don’t have to find shelf space for them when I’m done. But I imagine it will be a few years yet before everything the publishers release on paper is simultaneously released in e-Book format.
And let’s hope the publishing houses don’t make the same mistake as the music industry of keeping the prices of the e-versions as high as the paper versions and pocketing the savings.
If they drop the costs of the e-versions to reflect the effective lack of material and shipping costs it will encourage more people to buy readers. Hardcover editions will remain as a “luxury” market, bookstores will have to adapt but could survive as download centres and sources of rare / premium / old editions.
If on the other hand the publishing houses keep the prices for the e-versions high and pocket the difference then sooner or later they will face the same piracy issues as the music industry, where the biggest strike against them is that even the bulk of honest consumers don’t feel much sympathy for the record companies that are viewed as rip off artists.