I love to read.

My idea of a good day is spent with a book in hand, curled up in bed or somewhere outside (weather permitting). I love getting lost in words, in the worlds that are created throughout all genres, throughout time. Books transcend time and space and bring you to an entirely different mental place, one that you can escape in and out of just by opening the pages and delving inside.

I was raised on books. My parents met when they were both working at Viking-Penguin Books over 20 years ago, and they raised my older sister and me with a fierce love for reading. I adored having my dad read us bedtime stories illustrating the characters within the colorful pages with strange voices and sound effects. The pictures on the pages came to life with his voice and I was entirely enthralled with each reading.

As I grew up, I began to obsess over the Scholastic Reading Club catalogue each month in middle school, and looked forward to going to yard sales with my parents and perusing discarded books. I picked up books on my own: shorter, predictable fiction books and fantasies, biographies of explorers and presidents, short collections of poetry. I have read my favorite book so many times that the cover has fallen off and the spine is white and wrinkled, the pages soft from the oil from my fingers.

For me, nothing can replace the wonderful rustle of pages or satisfying feel of turning each one as I move throughout a history or narrative. Nothing smells like a book does, especially a used book, and nothing feels more comfortable in my hands than a novel I'm intimately acquainted with.

A Kindle does not have this same comfort, nor does it have a similarly beautiful and rich history as that of books and bookmaking. Kindles may be a convenient way to carry around a few books with you on a small device, but it is yet another to add to our already highly addictive set of devices that we use all the time. Part of the reason I love to escape into a good book is because it allows me to shut myself off from my device and be disconnected for a little while.

I look forward to the time I set apart for myself each day to read for pleasure -- it is something different in my daily routine and something I cherish. I cannot deny that devices are incredibly useful and convenient, but I don't want them to replace books. I lament the downsizing of the book publishing industry, as it was always my dream to become a part of that world, and I tend to blame Kindles for that.

I know it's a personal preference, and it might seem silly, but those are just a few of the reasons I refuse to buy a kindle. I simply love the physical beauty of a book too much.