Books Are Back, Baby! Readers Are (Finally) Writing Off E-Books

We've never been a fan of e-books. Maybe it's a sign of our age, or maybe we just don't like a staring at yet another screen after spending hours in front of one.

Really, what can compare with the smell of a new (or old!) book and the sound of the spine cracking ever-so-slightly as you open it for the first time? The answer is nothing, my friends — nothing. "I'm going to curl up with a good e-book" Said no on EVER.  

Just when you thought (feared!) e-books might be taking over completely, it looks like there's hope after all!

Our friends across the pond seem to be buying more real books (you know, the kinds with actual covers), according to TIME. U.K. bookstore Waterstones reported a 5 percent rise in sales of hardcopies (they think their remodeled stores may have had something to do with it), and that demand for its e-reader has basically disappeared. Foyles, a London-based bookstore chain, reported an 11 percent increase in paperbacks this past holiday season.

And on this side of the Atlantic, Barnes & Nobles reports that it isn't seeing as much growth with its e-reader, according to TIME. "The rapid growth of e-book sales has quite dramatically slowed, and there is some evidence it has gone into reverse," Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis tells TIME.

Hmm, perhaps people have wised up and realized nothing can compare to old-fashioned, spine-cracking, page-turning, books.