Sitting next to me in the Boston subway today was a lady. Her activity represented the biggest turnoff for me next to seeing my name spelled wrong. She was blowing gum bubbles and reading Anna Karenina on her iPhone.
Anna Karenina must be read in print. It is probably one of the world's few books that you need to hold and whose pages you need to list impatiently. Actually, I am taking this back. All of my favorite books--Lolita, A Hero of Our Time and Me Talk Pretty One Day among others--have to be held and listed page by page. I just can't bear to see it happen any other way.
And this is coming from someone who gets all of her information online. Reading BBC news and the Onion is very fulfilling. Yet reading a book that makes you laugh or cry on an electronic device seems unsatisfactory. And unproductive. Mostly, because you can't afford to get the device wet with tears.
Photo Credit: Pensiero
