Books vs Ebooks

I used to be one of those people who loved books. I don't mean reading, I mean I actually loved books themselves. The scent of a new book is quite unique and it's s scent I love, it makes me feel warm, safe and comfortable.

When I read a book, I took great pains not to bend the spine any more than necessary and I hated giving books away; keeping every book I had ever read was almost an obsession and I dreamed of one day having a library. Of course I had to part with them sometimes, usually when moving house and I was forced to choose between them, those I would read again and those I probably wouldn't. Sometimes if i loved a book and had read it many times, I would buy a new copy, not to read, just so that I still had a pristine version.

Maybe it was an intellectual snobbery but more likely it had it's roots in insecurity. Sure, i might be dyslexic, but I'll bet you haven't read this many books! Ha!

When I moved abroad I still took half my books with me (the other half I sent to an adoption centre, AKA charity shop). While living abroad though, my foible encountered a kink. English language books are very hard to come by in foreign countries, so much so that aside from the few new books I had sent to be from the UK, every book I read was second hand. There were no new book stored handy to browse, so I scoured markets and car boot sales instead.

I soon discovered that a battered, tatty second hand book was just as enjoyable as a new book, even without the new book smell. Then a second hand book shop opened up locally and I would pop in there at least once a week.

I also began to feel that, in an environment where books are so scarce, perhaps I was being selfish by hanging onto my copies, especially since they looked so ratty next to my older, pristine books. So I began to trade my books in. Surprisingly it wasn't as hard as I thought.

When i had to move back to the UK I was faced with a dilema, did I ship my books back again (most of which i still hadnt read a second time) or sell them? In the end I chose to sell all but perhaps a dozen of them, times were uncertain and carting boxes of books around just wasn't feasible.

So by the time i got back to the UK, i was over a lot of my book hangups. Still, I didn't really like Ebooks, they just weren't real books and when you finished one, you had nothing to show for your efforts other than a few MB's of space on a hard disk.

Then it happened. One of my favourite authors books was being released later in the UK than in the USA and it would take a few days to be posted to me (and if you know anything about me, you'll know that I have zero patience). So i bit the bullet, bought the Ebook version on the day of release and read it on my laptop.

And do you know what? An Ebook is just as enjoyable as a paper book. Just as captivating, just as thrilling, just as scary.

Since then, aside from a few books bought in charity shops, every book I have bought has been an Ebook. They're prefect for todays instant society. You want it, you buy it, thirty seconds later you're reading it. Plus, carting your Ebooks from house to house is SO much easier than paper books.

So that's how I joined the digital revolution. Now I just have to get an Ereader, i have a feeling it'll be even more fin if i;m not chained to my laptop!

TV Drama needs more reality?

Jimmy McGovern isnt happy with British drama. He says

Commenting on the high viewing figures for costume dramas such as ITV's Downton Abbey and the popularity of arch adventure shows such as Dr Who, McGovern said he believed the best writing took itself seriously, as well as taking its audience seriously.

He goes on to say

Television drama should say more about the world we live in today and not rely on costumes, irony and pastiche.

And

The only way to tell stories on TV is to convince people that what they are seeing is actually happening now and is real. I just can't handle the tongue-in-cheek approach, the kind of thing you see on Dr Who. Though there are millions who can, I know

Now I do actually understand that way of thinking. My mother is very much like Jimmy McGovern and looks to real life for her entertainment. She only reads biographies or true crime and she watches true crime documentaries or crime drama's. The last science fiction film she watched was Star Wars in 1977, the year I was born. She accepts that I have very different tastes but she will not watch anything that couldn't be real.

I think however, that Jimmy McGovern misses the point of drama. Sure, some of it can tell real life tales and be relevant to the working man or womans life.

The trouble is, a lot of life is tough. Bloody tough. If he wants to spend his free time wallowing in more of the same misery (lets face it, his work is hardly a laugh fest) then he can do that.

Me? I want some escapist fun. I want to forget about my worries for a while and just enjoy a damn good story. I don't want to watch something that what will reminded me the prejudices I face, the bills I cant pay, the hopelessness of a dead end job, the misery of having been betrayed, the heartache of never being understood or the grief of losing a loved one.

What's more, I don't think that makes me a bad person or makes my views any less important than his.

I look to the news and the papers for real life. I look to the TV to be entertained.

I personally think my mother is obsessed with crime as a way to understand her violent father, and more power to her but she's 60 now and still doesn't seem to have come to terms with her past. I think Jimmy's obsession might also show he has unresolved issues regarding his upbringing and a lot of bitterness about being working class but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to wallow in our issues. Some of us like to deal with them, let go and move on.

But even assuming he's right, who's reality are we talking about? As a friend said

whose reality, exactly? Because mine, while not privileged, bears no resemblance to his. Would he write a drama about a quiet street where almost everyone is white and apparently comfortable, where if people are suffering discrimination, bereavement, fear and poverty - and I know they are - they are doing it politely behind closed doors and not talking about it? Where 20% of the teenage population walks to the station every day in smart Grammar School uniforms and everyone shops in Waitrose?

Thought not. But that doesn't make it any less real.

No. Reality is very subjective and issues vary greatly. There is a place for real life, gritty drams, and there is just as big a place for pure entertainment.

For the record, I chose to watch Single Father over Downton Abbey, but I somehow doubt many widowed fathers chose to relive their trauma.