In the Times of India Madhubanti De suggests Reading gets a digital makeover, insisting; "it is imperative that we take a look at the various ways in which reading practices have evolved among youngsters over the years".
Apparently, change in India is still behind the US and Europe as far as the shift to e-reading goes ("With the rise of technology and given how tech-savvy the youngsters today are, will reading books online be too far behind ?") -- but then so are some of the actual reading habits too:
Still, the reason I point to this dime-a-dozen piece is for the great quote in ... support of old-fashioned print books and bookstores:
Apparently, change in India is still behind the US and Europe as far as the shift to e-reading goes ("With the rise of technology and given how tech-savvy the youngsters today are, will reading books online be too far behind ?") -- but then so are some of the actual reading habits too:
"I used to read a lot of Enid Blyton when I was young. Now, my juniors prefer Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games and other books. In the sci-fi genre itself, there are a number of independent authors, who are coming up with great new books," says Piyali, a 19 year old student from Bangalore.(Yes, that's a 19 -- not 91 -- year old student who read a lot of Blyton when she was ... young.)
Still, the reason I point to this dime-a-dozen piece is for the great quote in ... support of old-fashioned print books and bookstores:
One girl, on a social networking site, updates her status about a second-hand bookstore, "Show me one Kindle that smells like this place."If that's the only hope left for physical bookstores and printed books ... we might as well pack it in right now. (And I'm surprised there isn't an e-reader with a 'book-smell'-feature yet, e-formats that you can set to your particular nose and taste that outdo any musty real-book fragrances .....)