Book Nook Book Kook
Oh, this just boggles the mind. From the Barnes & Noble website (pimping their new color Nook):
Read In Store™
Visit any Barnes & Noble store with your NOOK in hand and read entire NOOKbooks for FREE for up to one hour per day with our innovative Read In Store™ feature. Also get exclusive content from top authors and great offers on books and café treats with our More In Store™ feature.
That’s about the kookiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Um…let’s see…you’re IN the store. You have an entire STORE OF BOOKS at your disposal. But you could use your Nook to read a book in store for a whole hour. Doesn’t it seem like it would make more sense to walk over, grab the actual book, and read it for however damn long you want?
The kids and I used to go to the bookstore all the time. It was our happy place. We could spend hours there, just like the library, but we’d go because there was a wider choice of books for them. It was bright and cheery and welcoming. Punishment was not being able to go to the bookstore. They thought nothing of gathering a stack of books to peruse, turning pages carefully and absorbing all the beautiful colors and sometimes the different textures on the pages. You know, some books…the way the ink fell upon paper…the smell…the heft of the book…all of it was part of the experience.
We’d get a couple books, find a place to sit, and we’d read together. For hours. It was our escape from the real world. It was our chance to travel in our imaginations, to visit places and worlds that may or may not really exist. We learned. We laughed. We cried. And it was time we spent together. There was something magical about browsing the shelves and picking up books, choosing each one with care. We’re supposed to believe that a piece of plastic and electronics will bring the same sort of thrill and enjoyment? I don’t think so.
An hour. You can read your book on a Nook in a bookstore for an hour for free. Sounds like something Dr. Seuss would have made up.
Kids, put down the electronics and pick up a real book for a change. Especially in a bookstore.
I wonder when bookstores are going to start kicking people like us out for reading all their books on the premises without actually buying anything. Maybe that’s the whole idea behind the Nook.
Comment by diamond dave — 2010/10/29 @ 20:06
I always buy something if I’m in there reading. Most stores don’t care if you sit there are read as long as you don’t leave a mess and as long as you don’t hassle other people.
Comment by DaGoddess — 2010/10/29 @ 22:03
They’re just trying to get more people in the store. The competition is eating them alive, but if they can keep their physical footprint, they may survive. Inviting folks in to read while they sip a latte counts toward their goal.
I don’t like those readers, though many do. I much prefer a book. The smell and feel of it in my hands. Magic carpets.
Comment by pam — 2010/10/30 @ 07:14
Magic carpets, indeed!
Comment by DaGoddess — 2010/10/30 @ 13:31
Advertising for the Nook probably. Gives people a chance to get their hands on it for a while, see how the screen looks, that sort of thing. Personally, I adore the ability to take a bazillion books with me in one neat little package.
Comment by Jan — 2010/10/30 @ 16:51
For sure, when traveling, it makes sense. But going to the bookstore? No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. And by that, I mean, NO.
Comment by DaGoddess — 2010/10/30 @ 17:00
I prefer not to go to bookstores. Or any other kind of store if I can manage it. I want to be able to download it, or at most have it shipped to my doorstep. Therefore, readers are perfect. I never was much tied to the physical forms of things anyway.
Comment by Jan — 2010/10/30 @ 17:16
Sigh.
We are so different when it comes to books. I gotta be able to hold it in my hands and turn those pages.
Sigh.
Comment by DaGoddess — 2010/10/30 @ 17:22
Comes from being a military brat. Can’t collect things, or take things from move to move. But, the new library usually had the same books as the last, and the words don’t change. It’s the WORDS that matter, their order and their cadence, their mood, their music… what they’re printed on is completely irrelevant.
Comment by Jan — 2010/10/30 @ 18:46
Amen to that!
Comment by Jason — 2010/10/31 @ 10:18
True, Jan, true. But you’re talking to a girl who once packed a SUITCASE of books to take to a sleepover.
I’m so old school, it’s pathetic.
Comment by DaGoddess — 2010/10/31 @ 11:56
I love my Kindle.There are no big bookstores in the town I live in and I don’t have time to drive an hour to the nearest Barnes and Noble. I can have a book in less than 5 minutes, lots of free or really cheap one,and no shipping!Ok I will shut off my Kindle advertisment now..
Comment by karen — 2010/10/31 @ 18:41