E-Book or physical book? They each have the benefits and downfalls. I have a Kindle, but I still love physical books. For me, a world with both is best.

I read fast and always have. For example, during a recent 22 day hospital stay, I underwent one surgery and one procedure.  I had family visiting 4 of those 22 days. That gave me 16 days where I had nothing to do but read. And read I did. I finished  12 books during that hospital stay. That’s nearly a book a day. If I had tried to bring enough physical books to occupy my time, I would have needed a separate suitcase just for books. Instead, I made sure my Kindle was full of waiting books so I would never be without something to read.

Sometimes, though, you just need to hold a book in order to get the full experience. That moment when you open a new book and you can smell the words floating off the page. My family thinks I’m strange when I say that there isn’t much that compares to that new book smell, but it’s true. There’s nothing quite like the smell of a new book.

Another benefit of physical books is putting them on a bookshelf and getting to see all those spines looking back at you. All those books that you’ve read and have yet to read, just sitting there, looking beautiful, and waiting. And if you’re like me and have slight OCD tendencies, the organizational properties are a joy in themselves.

In the end, it all comes down to personal preference. I just happen to like both, but either format means you are reading. That’s the important part. Whether you read form a physical book or from an e-book, the important thing is to just read.

So, which format do you prefer?

For nearly anyone who reads for fun, there is the first. The first book crush. If you’re anything like me, you can remember the first character that you desperately wished was real. My first book crush started during the summer of 2002. Sure, I had read some pretty good books before that year, but 2002 is when I met Gilbert Blythe.

My grandparents, sister, and I were spending the summer in Eastern Canada and one of our stops was Prince Edward Island, home of Anne of Green Gables. I bought that first book and there was no going back.

I fell hard for the Anne of Green Gables series. I couldn’t tell you then and I can’t tell you know why I loved them so much. I don’t know. I don’t understand it, really. But I bought every single one of the books in the series and devoured them. In the process, I fell in love with Gilbert Blythe.

Gilbert starts out as the annoying boy in class and ends up stealing hearts. He is so breathtakingly beautiful and perfect that I know no man I meet in real life will ever live up to the standards set by Gilbert. He loves Anne and their family so much that I could feel it floating out of the book. Even now, 11 years later, thinking about Gilbert makes me smile.

I’ve read a lot of books in my life. I’ve had a lot of crushes on book boys. But  the first is always the most special. That first book crush fiddles his or her way into your heart and won’t ever let go. It doesn’t matter how long you go between readings (because let’s face it, if you love the character, you’re going to read the book often), that fluttering feeling will still be there. The words the say will still make you smile. And just when you think you couldn’t love that first more, somehow you find yourself falling even further.

So now that you know my first book crush, what’s yours?