Good books should be page turners, not screen fillers

There's nothing like a good book. I'm just not sure it should be downloaded.

Joni just finished reading a book the other night. It was a 1,200-page book downloaded on her Palm Pilot.

It doesn't seem quite like reading a book to me.

Electronic memos are one thing. I can accept the value of e-mail. But no one would mistake it for literature.

Joni tells me the e-book was a page turner. How would she know? All I saw was that she kept clicking the screen, scrolling to the next tiny page.

My idea of curling up with a good book involves holding a bound volume of printed pages and being able to actually turn the pages. I like having a book that has a cover and a spine.

I don't want to read a book on a little computer screen. I'd go blind by the time I was 60.

If this trend continues, it will be impossible to tell a first edition from a zillionth edition. We'll all be in trouble when the batteries run out.

Joni says it's cheaper to buy an electronic novel than to pick up the paperback copy at the bookstore.

Of course, it should be cheaper.

There's more to reading a book than just a compilation of words and sentences. There's a feel to a book that can't be duplicated on the electronic screen.

No doubt, my reservations about electronic books may sound similar to what those monks must have said when the printing press was invented, eliminating the need to copy books by hand.

Still, I can't part with the ink.

It's nice to be able to turn the pages of a book or a newspaper.

I own some old Perry Mason paperbacks. Their brown, worn pages have a familiar feel to them. They tell you these stories have been around and aren't going away.

I remember reading some of the detective novels as I sat on a Florida beach during one summer vacation. I wasn't worried about getting a little sand on the books. They even provided a little shade from the scorching sun.

I can't imagine feeling the same way about an e-book on the beach.

Reading for pleasure just doesn't seem as relaxing to me when it's beaming at me from a tiny screen.

No one knows what the future holds.

My nephew just graduated from high school. He wants to play college basketball at a school in Oklahoma. I wish him well. No doubt, he'll do a lot of reading in college. I just hope it's not all on the computer.

Even basketball players could benefit from a good page turner that doesn't have to be powered up.

My daughter, Bailey, who is finishing up first grade, loves it when I read her a bedtime story.

I often read her a children's book about cows that type and want electric blankets.

She likes the story, but I think she also likes watching me turn the pages and hold it up so she can see the illustrations.

Reading the story on a handheld computer screen wouldn't be the same.

I don't mind turning out the lights. I just can't do the same with a good book.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.