Leave a comment, win an ARC!

To win an advance reading copy of Simply From Scratch, leave a brief comment below addressing this week’s Deb Ball topic: Ereaders such as the Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc.

I’ll choose a winner (perhaps more than one winner, depending on the number of responses) at random and announce it in Sunday’s Newsflash (June 20th). Good luck!

~Alicia Bessette

51 Replies to “Leave a comment, win an ARC!”

  1. Love the cover on SIMPLY FROM SCRATCH, by the way. I’d love to have a copy.

    E-readers – well, I have a Kindle. I worked at a library and when I first heard about e-readers, I thought that I would never, never want one. Only a real book for me. My husband bought me the Kindle for our anniversary last year and I love it. I still read probably 60% of my books in the regular way, but there are some real advantages to my Kindle. And it seems easier on the eyes to me, especially after looking at backlit computer screen all day.

  3. After yesterday’s post, I’m excited to try the iphone Kindle app. We are a family of readers who always have books with us. Having a book on my iphone sounds too good to be true!

  4. I have a Kindle (and read maybe 25% of my books on it). I love the apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPod Touch. I have them all because I love being able to read the same book anywhere – especially in line at the post office or some equally frustrating place to wait. It’s a great thing 🙂

  5. I have a Kindle and a Sony Pocket E-Reader, but I find that I still prefer to read “real” books. I think if I traveled more often, I’d find that the e-readers were the way to go!

  6. My take on e-readers? I wouldn’t turn one down if someone gave me one but I’m more likely to keep buying actual physical books with the spare change in my wallet than saving up to buy one myself.

  7. I don’t have any sort of ereader and while I think they are probably fantastic I think I would miss physically having a book in my hand. I like the covers and the physicality. I would probably love an e-reader but since I am poor I am going to use that as the reason I would never want one, haha.

  8. Wow, I love that cover!!

    I’m not too sure about e-readers. While I realize they are good for the environment and all, I’m afraid I would be so conscious of the change it material that I couldn’t get into the book. Plus, I just don’t think it could take the place of the feel of having a book in my hands, turning those pages, and smelling that lovely combination of paper and glue. I just don’t think I can make the switch!

  9. I agree with Erika and Heather– the feel of an actual book, and the flip of the pages would be things I would miss. I do not own any sort of e-reader, nor do I have any plans to buy one. Would I try it? Sure, but books with real bindings are the way to go.

  10. I am ashamed to say that I was generously gifted a Kindle last Christmas but have yet to read even ONE book on it. I just love real books too much, and I also discovered swaptree.com in January, and so have a steady stream of regular books arriving in the mail to read. Maybe one day I’ll succumb to e-readers?

  12. Alicia, I love your music already and I’m sure I’ll love your book. As for e-reading… those devices are really lackluster when I read my favorite pop-up books.

  13. The cover is just…so, & am liking it a lot. 😉 Kindle & the rest of the devices for reading – so don’t support the love of language, the touch and smell and seeing of the book – being tactile; the e-readers aren’t going to fly with me. Since I’m teaching Freshman English at two community colleges & one university, I ask my students & the surprise for me is that they’re loving it. Why? The response I’ve found to be for the majority of my 250 students is that it’s convenient and they can get any book instantaneously, while on the ‘T’ or just chillin’. The other reason seems to be ‘cheap, cheap, cheap!’ according to them.
    Thinking it’s all generational, yikes – when did I get to be the old foggie..still energized, but the classes seem to want e-readers & high tech. Kudos on the book! jk cosmos

  15. I recently took the plunge and ditched our landline in favor of a new iPhone, so I was especially thrilled with yesterday’s tip about downloading the Kindle ap. I had no idea I could do that! Will definitely give it a shot just as soon as I figure out how to do it. I’m not the most tech-savvy person in the world 🙂

    I did get to play with a friend’s iPad the other day and found myself coveting it. So many cool gadgets, so little time and money!

    Tawna

  16. Thank you for these responses, folks! I love reading them.

    As I watch the stacks of books cram our little apartment, and our bookshelves collapse under the weight of their contents, eReaders are starting to make sense to me, from a space-saving perspective, and also from a green perspective. And yet, I’m reluctant to take the plunge and purchase one. Some of you have commented on the tactile experience of reading a real book, the physicality of it. That’s important to me too.

  18. I like the idea of e-readers, but am not yet sold. I don’t like the format restrictions on the Kindle (or the price) and while I was very excited about the Kobo… actually playing with it in the store made me less excited. I didn’t like how it kind of flashes black as you flip a page.

    Ultimately, I’m not excited about owning another single use gadget that will likely be obsolete in a year or two. Maybe I’ll plunge with the next generation. (Have been eying iPad though… But it’s not single use…)

  19. I love the idea of e-readers. That you can be anywhere in the world and buy a book, that you can fit hundreds of books in one ‘book’ and carry it anywhere you like. I also like that it makes it much less expensive for writers to self-publish. However, I don’t own one and don’t currently want one (that could change). I am stuck on paper-bound books. I like that you can share them, display them in your home, and feel them in your hands. I like that you can buy them used and know that someone else once shared the same experience as you did.

    I hope I win your book- I’ve been looking forward to reading it 🙂

  20. I ride the NYC subway about 40 minutes a day, and one of my favorite hobbies is checking out what other riders are reading. A furtive glance at the cover of a neighbor’s book was once an easy task. E-readers make this activity much, much harder, and I am not happy about it! At times I find myself bending my neck in odd positions just to get a glimpse of what the person next to me is reading (and even then it’s sometimes hard to tell). While I love the idea of freeing up space and being better to trees, I’m not yet ready to give up my subway spying!

  21. Still love the whole library/ dust/ smell of a ‘real’ book & when you group them together by color on your book shelves – that’s a whole ‘nother story !

  22. I cannot wait for your book to come out!

    While I still love to frequent the book stores and library, I do a lot of reading on my Kindle. When I am at a book store or a local library I usually have my 2 small children in tow. This makes it really difficult for me to browse and find books for my own reading. With the Kindle I am able to “sample” books on my own time and not worry about my 2 year old rearranging/clearing the book shelves. I also love being able to have a book to read within 30 seconds of ordering it, regardless of the time of day.

  23. I love my Kindle! I received it as a Christmas gift from my partner. Some of the reasons I like it: I can carry 13,000 books (or something like that) at once, in one little package that I can throw in a small handbag; I tend to read more than one book at a time, so you understand; I can get my magazine subscriptions on the kindle; I can add notes and highlight passages (there is a special section where I can look up these notes and highlights without looking through the book); books cost less when I download them to the kindle; there are a lot of free books for the Kindle; I can download samples of books for free and then buy them if I like them; I find it easy on the eyes and when my eyes are especially tired from grading many papers, I increase the font size; also, I got used to the feel of the Kindle pretty quickly and once it’s on, I won’t lose my page if I put it down or need a weight to keep it open!

    On the other hand, the pages are numbered differently than a real book, so if I were trying to tell someone that is reading the actual book about a passage, I would have to rely on chapter numbers that is, if there are chapters. Dropping it in the tub would not be good, so I put it in a ziplock during bath time. Not all the books I want are available for the kindle.

    That said, I still read actual paper books for teaching or when they aren’t available for the Kindle. I still enjoy going to the bookstore to browse. I know, I know what will happen to the bookstores if ebooks really take off? What can I say, I’m conflicted; I love the Kindle but want bookstores to stay.

  24. I do not have an ereader, but want one badly. I keep waiting to see what changes and improvements are made.
    Simply from Scratch sounds like a great book.

  25. How timely for me! I got a Kindle for Christmas and adore it. I’m in the midst of packing up all of my books to donate. If I can get it the library, it’s going. I read mostly on my Kindle and do not miss the feel of paper books. The ones I do read in paper are books not yet released (I do adore galleys!), not available in the U.S. (British books are my expensive online ordering habit), or not available on Kindle. As much as I love my Kindle, I do wish DRM would go away. The Kindle is the best product out there (I think), but I wish I could support independent bookstores more too.

  26. I have a Kindle (given to me as a gift) and the Kindle app on my iPhone. I rarely use either, however, as I prefer “real books.”

  27. I have a Nook and I love it. My husband listens to books on tape all the time but I always said I prefer to actually read my books. The Nook lets me do that but have a book at my disposal or many books for that matter. It is easy to carry about the size of a notebook. It is easy to turn pages and I wouldn’t give it up. One problem I see though is if I want to have my book signed by the author it is a little hard to do that with the Nook.

  28. In theory, I will always prefer a paper book over an eBook, however, if you asked me that the day I moved out of my Brooklyn apartment with 5 huge boxes of the heaviest books ever… I might have changed my mind. Culturally though, I think more and more people will move to ebooks, just as the music (r)evolution moved from CDs to MP3 players. As the younger generation grows up into adult readers, I imagine this trend will become more of the norm.

  29. I bought a Kindle last year before I went on vacation (a month in the beautiful boonies). I was unsure if the local library would let me borrow (I’m sure they would have) and I knew my local library would not lend books for 4 weeks (I’m sure they would have, as well). Anyway, it took me about 3 nanoseconds to get used to the Kindle. It is lightweight (very portable) and the font is easy to read (you control that). I said at the time that I would only use it on vacation. As you can only imagine, I have continued to use it and I use the library- I buy my favorite authors as soon as the books are released. Kindle is instant gratification. (I have seen the iPad, and it seems a little more virtual, as the pages appear to turn). I agree, nothing beats holding a book; however I am trying to declutter my life- Kindle is the answer!

  30. I’m such a multitasker (A.D.H.D) that I read many books at one time. So to help keep up with my books I received a Sony eReader from my sweetie. I use my Sony ereader to quickly purchase books when I discover new ones I just gotta have. It is also great to take notes and hi-light information is using the eReader. I really love my reader for checking out books from the library. I don’t have to worry about returning them because they just expire. I read somethings in hard copy like magazines and some favorite classics.

  31. I can’t say that I don’t like e-readers because I have never used one- maybe they’re not so bad when it comes to the space in my bookshelves! I could imagine to “store” some books there and give the original books to “bookcrossing” when I’m on holiday. Then somebody else can find them and enjoy them.
    Nevertheless, I can’t imagine using e-readers for a new book I have never read before at the moment. I want to touch it, feel it, turn the pages by hand while I relax in the garden under the trees.
    (Hope to have good weather when I read “Simply from scratch”:)!!
    But I must admit that I never wanted to have a computer 20 years ago and now I’m really addicted to it, can’t live without my emails or the net.It’s a part of everyday life for me. Maybe one day it’ll be the same with e-readers.

  32. I haven’t tried reading on the ipad yet, but my sweetie reads to me from it at night. That means we don’t need get up to shut the light off after–just shut off the ipad and put it down!

  34. I have a Nook, it’s true. As a librarian and a classic literature lover I feel ashamed to say this but as a book blogger and professional reviewer…it became a necessity. I use it when I travel and am writing so I have all I need for research and reading with me. I still take real books though…

    I have a love affair with books. I love the feel of them , the smell, the idea of who else has taken a journey with them. That’s why I became a librarian…a building of books is my paradise.

    So while I have a Nook and I do like it…especially it’s pretty pink Kate Spade cover…it’s just still a very impersonal object to me. Unlike a book which is as personal as it gets!

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