Recent reads, Kindle and otherwise

Of late, I've been alternating my reading between real, tactile books and ebooks on a Kindle.  Thought this would be the best way to get a clear sense of what I like or prefer about each.

What I like about having books on a Kindle:

• the digital wizardry of the process and the product - it's a toy I enjoy;
• I can search for a book, find it and download the thing in the space of 30 seconds - especially good if I've started reading a book that doesn't belong to me and I want to carry on with it, or if I'm after a book in a hurry;
• I'm no longer cluttering my shelves with books I'm not particularly attached to (but can still buy hard copies of those I really want);
• they're cheaper than the hard copy, and environmentally sound;
• so many books can be downloaded for free;
• I can take as many books as I'll ever manage to read or need to reference when I'm travelling;
• they're making books fashionable and appealing for a new generation of reader;
• more people are writing, more authors are getting published, the conservative stranglehold of (many) publishing houses is being challenged;
• I can attempt(!) to read books in a foreign language and simply press a word for its definition when I don't understand it.

What I don't like about Kindle books:

• I miss the colour, the texture and the smell of the hard copy, and the tactile experience of holding it and thumbing through the pages, and hearing them snip-snap when I flick at them, and I miss the personal feel of an old favourite that's become dog-eared and faded - that's a big set of things;
• digital books don't give me the same sense of where I'm up to in a story - I like to be able to gauge the progress of a story by where I'm up to in the thickness of the thing, and having this listed as a percentage doesn't cut the mustard;
• I also like to know where I'm up to in terms of a page number (surely that could be managed?) instead of what appears to be a randomly spaced Location number;
• it's irritating when the Kindle jumps a couple of digital pages, or a hundred, and every page has to be digitally turned to get back to the right position;
• only one person can access the library of books on a particular Kindle at a time;
• insufficient quality control of editing - the lack of investment in printing a book might mean that it's too easy and temptingly quick for some publishers and self-publishers to publish digitally;
• I'm less confident about reading in the bath.

What I've read on Kindle recently:

• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - I've wanted to read this for years, so I was pleased I could download it for free on Kindle, but it bored me silly and I had to stop after 24%;
• The Obituarist by Patrick O'Duffy;
• The Brush-Off by Shane Maloney;
• Underground Nest by Kathleen Maher;
• Street by Tyler Stevens;
• Medea by Euripedes - just started;
• Blue Friday by Mike French - just finishing.

What I've read in hard copy recently:

• The Boat by Nam Le;
• The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh;
• The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chödrön;
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön;
• The Places That Scare You by Pema Chödrön (- my fourth novel may well have a Zen Bhuddist thread woven through it!);
• The Lady With the Little Dog and other stories by Anton Chekov - for the 3rd or 4th time;
• Black Cow by Magdalena Ball;
• Beginners by Raymond Carver.

While I'll continue to read books in both hard copy and digital format, via a Kindle or similar, my preference for the time-being is firmly with the former.  However, that said, I'll give a resounding three cheers for Kindle, if only because Snowing and Greening seems to be selling superbly in that format.  Cheers to that!