💬 Paper books for me, even when the shelf is full

Every second Sunday I go to the used book sellers on the footpath near Abids. 80 rupees a book, bargain to 60. My Kindle sits in a drawer, a gift from my brother 3 years ago. It has 2 books on it. I just can't read on it. I get 10 pages in and my eyes wander to the clock. With a paper book I can read for 2 hours and not notice my back hurting. Last month I bought a thick Urdu novel with a cracked spine and someone's name inside the cover. Imran, 1998, written in blue ink with a drawing of a cricket bat next to it. I read it over 6 evenings. Page 143 had a dried flower pressed flat. Page 201 had a tea ring. I don't know who Imran is but it felt like I was borrowing something from him. You can't get that from a file. Nobody leaves a flower in a PDF. My nephew says I'm being dramatic and that his tablet holds 300 books. He's right, it does. But he's finished 2 of them. I've finished 40 since January and the pile on my shelf is leaning. My mother says I should open a library. I told her I'd need a bigger room. The shelf is the real problem. It's 1 metre wide, built for 60 books, and it holds 90. I stacked the rest on top of the fridge, which my mother hates. Last week I gave 8 away to a neighbour's kid. It hurt more than I expected. I'll go back to Abids on Sunday anyway. There's a seller who saves things for me.

The name and the cricket bat inside the cover is why I buy used books too. At the old book market near Koti I once found a school prize book from 1987 with a headmaster's signature on the first page. I paid 40 rupees and read half of it standing there. Did you try finding Imran, or is the mystery better?

E-books have basically taken over for me, mostly because I moved twice in three years and hauling boxes of books cured me of the attachment quickly. I do miss the smell of an old paperback sometimes, and lending a book to a friend just isn't the same when it's a file. But not having a stack of half read books guilt tripping me from the shelf is a relief I did not expect.