I recently sat in my school's library for 2 hours, watching. I was watching what people were reading, and what they were reading with. Nearly half of them had e-readers.
The rise of e-readers began in the early 2000s, and has since skyrocketed. Why do we strain ourselves to read when reading should be a relaxing scenario?
Printed books, as 'old school' as they may be, will always hold a place on my shelf.
The smell of a brand new book when you first open it, the sound of the pages when you turn them and the look of a worn book provides many memories.
I have given e-readers a chance a few years ago. I read the Hunger Games series on my Kindle in high school. I read it in the morning and afternoon on the bus on the way to school. The headaches I got from trying to finish a series, looking back, makes me cringe.
I remember, growing up, the Scholastic Book Fair was a huge deal. You would get these paper brochure-type order forms before you went home, then you would fill out the books (and occasional spy kits) that your parents would let you get.
If you didn't get a chance to fill out the brochure, and even if you did, they had a huge set up in the library for a week. A number of books, posters, (and obviously the spy kits) etc. were amazing.
They had books from every grade level, for anyone. I go, when I can, to the Book Fairs that are held at my mom's school and it brings back so many wonderful memories.
I would love to get the new "Junie B. Jones" and "The Magic Treehouse" books. The stories of Junie related to me and Jack and Annie's" adventures were one's that I could only dream of going on (and yet, I would hope I could travel back in time. Hey, one can dream).
While in my childhood, I read about Jack and Annie going back to see the dinosaurs and Junie bringing a fish stick to show and tell, children are reading about zombies in a high school and some wimpy kid writing about his life.
The one thing I do like about the e-readers would be space. You can fit dozens and dozens of books on one small tablet. With all my printed books, I do wish I did have more bookshelf space, but the more books I gather the more reason to get a library in my future house/apartment.
Although e-readers have a better capacity to hold books, I will always be on the side of an actual book.
Nothing beats holding one, and smelling that real book smell.