Hello all you awesome people. I know I've been away for a while but I've had to fight an epic battle with that annoying social construct called exams. Yes, it's amazing how much of time something which you're probably never going to use or remember takes up. Also, I realised how awesome I am at remembering random stuff that I read in readings which would probably impress the person marking my exams so that's one positive thing I can take away from this tormenting experience.
Enough about my hate for exams, what I really want to blog about is books. I was recently forced to read The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda because I'm doing English 1 as an elective this year. I had to read it because it was coming up in the exam and since I don't go to English lectures, I was kind of nervous. Plus, there weren't any notes or summaries for the book available on the internet. I have to say that I quite enjoyed the book, Mda is a brilliant writer as many South Africans will know and his ability to integrate the past with the present is quite remarkable.
I love books just as much as the next bookworm. There's nothing quite like feeling the weight of a book that you just took off the shelf or breathing in that familiar mustiness of a book which is more than a century old. My mom, from the time since I knew how to read, always encouraged me to read books. I can't say that I fell in love with books immediately, in fact, I found them quite boring at first but then I started reading The Famous Five series, I guess I have Enid Blyton to thank for my adventure tendencies.
Books are evolving, not only in terms of genres but also in terms of technology. As many of you know, eBooks are the future. As it is, kids in parts of Europe are already using iPads instead of good old heavy textbooks in school. Yup, you heard right. Parents are asked to buy their kids iPads so that they can have more effective means of learning and doing work in class instead of having to lug around textbooks and writing pads. I mean, I'm all for technology but I still think that education needs to stay consistent until it's ready to take that leap to a technological level.
I literally have hundreds of eBooks on my laptop which I'm in the process of converting to an ePub format so that I can put them all onto my iPad. Don't get me wrong, I love conventional books, there's nothing like having the whole Harry Potter series or Hunger Games trilogy on your bookshelf but eBooks are really convenient. You literally have hundreds of books at your disposal to read on a device with just a touch of your finger, it really is amazing. Plus, carrying around an iPad is much more pleasant than breaking your back carrying around a 500 page book all day. The best thing about eBooks? You can download thousands of them for free. No cost whatsoever. Free. The latest books, the books which you've always wanted, anthologies which you would pay a fortune for, all for free. It's illegal of course but so is downloading music or games without paying for it.
I don't think that eBooks are threatening conventional books just yet but it is getting to that stage, and fast. With devices such as Kindles and iPads and eReaders, it's only a matter of time before people start downloading books instead of walking into a bookstore and purchasing one. I'll always buy books, especially books which are a part of a series or books by one of my favourite authors but sometimes downloading an eBook is just so much more convenient.
There's nothing like snuggling up with a book under covers on a cold day but I have to say, eBooks are quickly taking over the industry and I'm curious to see the long term effects that it's going to have on life in general. Good luck to those of you who are still writing exams, remember that you could always drop out and become a rock star, or a hippie, don't tell your parents that I encouraged you.
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