Reading in the Digital Age

Reading in the Digital Age

Growing up in a joint family in India, I was fortunate to have been exposed to books early on. The house was full of aunts, uncles and children from ages 5 to 15. And books...lots of them.

In the modest apartment we occupied, there was a wall dedicated to our common collection. On the shelves were books as varied as the personalities that lived in the house. These included the Victorian romance swooning aunts, the Law and Order loving uncles, the suspense thriller addict cousins, and the Sherlock Holmes in the making sisters.

Books transformed my boring Saturday afternoons into adventure filled races against time. With a wide variety of genres available readily, I usually found something that satisfied my mood du jour.

When I lost touch with books, unless they contributed to my academic pursuits, it was a tragedy. Adulting had no place for frivolous ideas like made up worlds or finding who murdered Mr. Jones. Or so I thought.

The arrival of my son and the instinctive need to read to him, reintroduced books into my life. But a decade had passed, since my love affair with books. The digital era had completely transformed, the way the world consumed books.

Suddenly I had options - I could listen to my books, access them on electronic devices, highlight and save my favorite passages. I could interact with books on a level, I had never imagined before. But with options also came confusion - which of these digital options were good? and most importantly which of these fit into my current lifestyle.

After researching and good old trial and error, I found a few apps that I use on a regular basis. While nothing beats holding a physical book, the convenience and actionability of digital reading tend to grow.

Apps I recommend:

I discuss the individual apps - brief descriptions and pros and cons in this post. All apps are available for download in the app store on Android and iOS devices. Happy Reading!