iheartREALbooks

I am a lover of books. I love reading but I might love the actual books just as much as the stories they contain. I love picking out books, their covers, the way they smell. I love the way the different weights of paper feel as you turn the pages. I love having a great book on my shelf for a lifetime not so that I can reread it but so that occasionally I can run my finger along the spine and remember the story and how great it was.

Knowing this, you might understand then that I do not like digital books, eReaders, whatever you might call them. I'm glad that these devices might make people more prone to reading but for me, I feel like they disconnect you with the book in some way. And, though I love my iPhone as much as the next person and I am clearly writing a DIGITAL blog, I'm generally against the entirely digital era that we live in now. I hate that kids only want to play video games or watch movies on their parents iPads. But, let's not get in to the things I hate about the way kids are raised these days...I could go on for hours. The point is: I hate that so many things are no longer tangible items but instead just computer data that can easily be erased.

I started noticing a trend this year that simultaneously makes me very sad and very happy. Books seem to be getting a new image this holiday season. That image is that they are collectible items - finely crafted and meant to be held on to for a lifetime. I know there have always been books like this but I am seeing them everywhere this year...even Costco! Dozens of classic titles are being reintroduced to the market with beautiful covers fit for a true collector. From cloth bound to embroidered these things are gorgeous and I want every single one of them. Look:

Embroidered Penguin Classics

Canvas Covered Classics

I can't find a link for the ones I saw at Costco but here is a picture I snapped.

I've always loved the old hard bound classics you can sometimes find at used book stores so I'm basically a kid in a candy shop with these new versions!

So, that obviously makes me happy. What makes me sad is that I'm afraid this new image books are being given is a sign that they are dying. The more people use their totally fab eReaders the less they read those completely lame paper books. I can see it already...it'll be just like vinyl records and photographs taken with actual film. Some people will cling to the old idea (me) and others will completely move on.

Not everyone has the same sentimental attachment to this form of media that I do...I get it. Max is a vinyl collector through and through and though I definitely love and appreciate them I am not emotionally attached to the idea of them like I think he is. But, we understand each others feelings here. Vinyl records and printed books are a labor of love to create. It takes a craftsman to make these things (well OK maybe I'm being dramatic I know books are mass produced but go with me here).

You need less and less skill these days to do things like write and release books, record and release music and even to take a good photograph. Some might argue this is good because the barrier to entry for new "artists" is not as great. We have more books to read because writers can finally afford to release their work. That might be true. Or, it might be true that we have more white noise that we have to sort through to find something truly great.

Definitely something to chew on...for me at least. In the meantime I sure hope Santa is reading this and fills my bookshelf with these beauties. I will love them forever and ever and I will share them with my children...I promise.