Russians and books

I was surprised to see how cheap and readily available books were in Russia. Book kiosks are everywhere in the cities and they are always busy. My husband has often spoken to me about the love that they have for books. Everybody is always busy reading something. This I noticed when we were commuting every day on the Moscow Metro.

Many hours are wasted every day commuting between home and work. Some people use that time productively by reading books and articles. It was interesting to watch the people in the metro. Some were hanging onto the handles to steady themselves and in the other hand they had a book reader. I saw electronic book devices everywhere. It wasn`t long before Andrey took out his Kindle as well.

What readers are people using to read?

Kindles are not very common in Russia. It is not that people don`t want to own a Kindle. They are all imported and because Russia is on the other side of the world, it makes them more expensive than other locally produced book readers like Sony or Prology. I am happy to learn to Amazon will be opening a store also in Russia. It will give people access to Kindles.

To be honest, I am a book lover. I have written before about book stores in Buenos Aires and my love for books. Andrey cannot find Russian books in Argentina and I battle to find English books. For that reason he bought a Kindle. I stubbornly refused to get an electronic book reader. I love the smell of books and they way they feel when I glide my fingers over the pages.

After a month in Russia I read all my books and couldn`t find an English book. I started to warm up to the idea of an electronic book reader. We started to look at brands like the Pocketbooks, Sony and other locally manufactured brands. Friends and family gave me money for my birthday and I decided to make the plunge and buy my own e-book reader. I didn`t want Wi-Fi,music or a touch screen. I wanted a device, with a long battery life, where I could load my books and read. I wanted something simple. Why? Because if you have too many nice things to play with then you forget to read.

Eventually I settled on a Prology electronic reader. I love the size and simplicity of the device. It does have music and a calendar but I have never used it. Prology is a Russian company and unfortunately these readers are not available in the rest of the world, unless they are imported off course.

I have officially joined the electronic book reader community!