In Defense of Books

My beloved husband is a very practical man. Truth be told, I am a practical woman too. I am one of those strange women who, if I need a vacuum cleaner, would rather receive a vacuum cleaner for my birthday than flowers or something. But when Jimmy told me that he wanted to buy a Kindle to save money and space on books I became irrationally impractical.
For those who don't know, a Kindle is an electronic device sold through Amazon.com. It can store thousands of books on it... books that you read on a screen. The designers specifically had "eye fatigue" in mind and they designed it so that it is no harder on your eyes than reading a written page. Books are sold in "Kindle" form for much cheaper than buying them in book form. And think of all the space you could save by packing up all those books!
However, all of my mind, body, and soul cries against this Kindle. To me it is an invasion of something sacred. You see, to me, a book is more than the sum of it's words. A book is something special all by itself. It's something magical and mystical. Can you really read "Walden Pond" on an electronic screen and have it mean the same thing to you? Isn't there something awe inspiring about losing yourself in the pages of a book? Being transformed into someone else in a different era, a different world, wrapped up in the warm embrace of a book is an experience that no screen, no matter how well designed, can duplicate. Can you explore the Mississippi River with Huck Finn or take your dusty broken-down car cross-country with the Joads? Can you feel the bitterness of revenge with Shylock or fear the encroaching madness with Hamlet? Can you swoon with Elizabeth Bennet over Mr. Darcy? Can Dickens and Shakespeare and Austen and Twain and Bronte and Whitman, and all the rest really be appreciated to their fullness when read on a screen?
Not to me.
Another thing that is magical about a book is its complete separation from technology. I am not a technophobe. I love my computer. But a book is completely free of technology "bugs." My books are never formatted wrong because they were created in a different program than I'm reading them in. They never have errors transferring files. They never lose power or run out of batteries. They don't stop working if they get a little wet (although they are damaged a little). I never fear reading them in one of my favorite reading spots... the bathtub. They never have unexplained "errors" that keep me from reading them. With a book I never get a one or two page teaser and then have to pay more to finish reading. I don't have to download, save, copy and paste, or anything when I'm reading a book. Isn't that something worth saving?
To me books are special all by themselves. A bookshelf is something sparking with life and imagination just waiting for someone to choose one of it's adventures to live in for awhile. I will not give up my books for any number of space, money, and time saving devices.