Back to Printed Books
Lured by the countless "Addicted to the smell of books" posts and photos of stacks for summer reading, I decided that perhaps it might not be a terrible idea to revert back to paperbacks and hardcover books. Thus, I was prompted to go on a frenzy and buy beautiful decor for my shelves.
As I hauled my collection of books through the crowded streets of New Market in the sweltering heat, the heaviness of the bag made me reconsider my decision even before I could step out of the place. A Kindle, or any other reading device for that matter, could hold a hundredfold more books and weigh only a very small fraction of what I was carrying.
When I opened up the copies to read beyond the pretty covers, much to my bewilderment, all the books came in different fonts and it wasn't just a glitch in the system or even something that I could fix. Instead of having to do what was ideally just a task of a button or two, I had to squint for some copies and hold away the others at a distance all the while sympathising for my vision.
As night fell, the squinting option became unviable. Despite the many taps on the book and trying to figure out the engineering, or lack thereof, behind it, it became apparent that increasing brightness was not an available feature. Thus, I had to forsake the usual blanket wrapped overhead because flashlights felt kind of "out of season".
Soon enough, I found myself twisted in a space which had the best lighting of the house; my body contorted to support the book at an angle most convenient. The weight of the book had grown on me. Suddenly I realised the teleporting power not only of the content of the book but also the form it comes in as well.
In the many books I acquired, I became reacquainted with second hand books which had scribbles, underlines, tears, and all manners of marks and smells of indistinguishable nature. Initially, the kinks distracted me and made me miss the clean white of a screen. However, as I became more invested, the little scribbles served as comic relief, the underlines delineated the significance of certain parts to a previous reader, every other quirk were tell tales of the book's very own adventures, or rather, misadventures.
As time passed, I became increasingly impressed by the ridiculously long battery life of printed books. While I missed the many features of a reading device (and did not miss certain ones like the constant blaring of notifications), with a book cradled in my hand, I felt I could perhaps get used to print copies again.
With a keen eye and a broken brain to mouth filter, Mahejabeen Hossain Nidhi has a habit of throwing obscure insults from classic novels at random people who may or may not have done anything to warrant them. Drop her a line at mahejabeen.nidhi@gmail.com