Books versus Computers

I should have read enough books before computers invaded into my life..now its too late :P !! Well, by accepting that, I'm making a conscious effort in trying to mend that. Still remember those days back in my 7th or 8th grade, when I used to borrow about 10 books every fortnight from the Eloor Lending Library. I tell you, those were thrilling days. I would be eagerly waiting to go pick up some new book to read. At the time, I was also introduced to the captivating language in the writings of P.G Wodehouse; not to forget the absolute hilarity from reading them. 

My love for books started with Enid Blyton's works, just like perhaps any other kid's, in 5th or 6th grade. There was a brief period during which I felt a voracious need to read and finish as many books as possible, like it was some personal target. Though, I was still reading while in high school and sporadically during college, the drive was hardly there. I used pick books that used to be just page turners. That is when psychological thrillers dominated almost all of my reading material. I recall there was also a time when the classic works of Harper Lee, V.S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie and some others intrigued me; the books, I believe had a great impact on me.

On and off I kept this hobby alive by picking up books once in a while through recommendations et al. But, largely my life was getting increasingly dominated by computers which were(/are) an immediate entertainer, well, mainly attributed to the advent of the internet I believe. Momentarily I thought e-books might be the transition into this computer dominated age. But I quickly realized they cannot replace hard copies simply because the latter are more gratifying. True, the number of e-books in my humble collection of multimedia, is good enough to start a small school library; I hardly ever read them. I'm not sure how much successful the e-book readers, that are now getting increasingly popular in the markets, have been. But I'm still cynical about their impact on reading. 

One of the mistakes I have made up until now is, not accepting the fact that I lost the habit of reading. The more I denied it, the more I moved away from reading books. I found myself borrowing books from the library only to leave them on the table until the due date of return. Notice the past tense :), because now I'm trying to accept that I have lost the interest and can try and revive it only by accepting it and making a conscious effort. 

I hope the effort won't go in vain and in making sure it doesn't, I'm trying to couple it with other things I enjoy doing  - having a good coffee ;) ! I think Borders might have the solution for me !!

Peace,

$ur