Don’t judge a book by its cover

I’m afraid I have a confession to make, dear reader. I’ve passed over to the dark side and it doesn’t bother me for one second.

The lovely Snapdragon gave me a Kindle for Christmas. I’m a changed man.

Until now, I have clung to traditional books with white knuckles. And why not: there is no substitute for the smell of a new book, the creaking sound a book makes when you open it for the first time.

I used to be rather outspoken about the subject: “I read real books,” I told everybody who wanted to hear. “A digital book on an e-reader is simply not a book. It feels like work.”

Well, it is a real book. You can get lost in an e-book just like you can in a traditional one. Without even hearing the complaints of a wife who wants you to mop the kitchen floor or spoilt children who want to be taken to the doggy park, just as it should be.

ALSO READ: Amazon Kindle: Still an exceptional way to read

And there are a bunch of other advantages. On paper, words were heavy. Not on my kindle.

You can easily carry three or four books with you without breaking your back. Possibly more, but I don’t own more yet.

“Hundreds,” Snapdragon told me, but being allergic to manual labour, I’ll wait before I load more. Until after Januworry.

I’ll read the ones I have until then. Which I can even do in bed in the dark. Take that, Eskom! Load shedding’s teeth have been extracted by a small, plastic contraption. One that can operate for weeks without being recharged.

Unlike me. I’m recharging after a terrible 2023, and it will be another few days before my battery reaches 100%. But it will – dreams and ideals will always be recharged, just like e-readers.

ALSO READ: Publishers offer access to e-books during lockdown

I hope your batteries are fully charged sooner, dear reader. And I hope 2024 will be a year in which you are exposed to wonderful new things, as I have been with my magical Kindle.

Things that we never thought possible. Perhaps a year where we will have to get used to a government in which the ANC plays a smaller part. One in which we will see corruption declining. Where potholes become collectors’ items. Were education improves and sky-high unemployment dwindle.

Impossible, you say? I have always thought a book without paper is impossible. It’s not.

Good new things can happen, believe me…