OPINION: Nothing tops a real book

NOTHING BETTER: You can't beat a real book when it comes to relaxing, remembering the facts and a good sleep afterwards.

It would seem the humble paperback book is still very much in style -- in Masterton, at least.

Last week, I chatted with Russell Carthew at Paper Plus and Sandy Green at Masterton District Library, who both reported a jump in book sales and issues over the past year.

This has come on the back of a bit of a slump for libraries and bookstores -- both of which have been facing stiff competition from eBooks and the shiny Kindles, Nooks and Kobos on which to read them.

For me, Paper Plus' and the library's success was most heartening

I was a bibliophile from a young age. My parents read to me as a kid -- and the hour before bed was either a comedy show, with Dad impersonating the kindly Irish grandfathers and excitable French teachers from Enid Blyton's series; or an emotional wrench as Mum recalled the misfortunes of the eponymous The Bear Nobody Wanted by the Ahlbergs.

In my pre-teens, the addictive Goosebumps and Baby-Sitters Club series took over the shelves. My tastes eventually matured to include favourites such as Angela's Ashes, The Handmaid's Tale, To Kill A Mockingbird and Pride and Prejudice -- and Harry Potter, of course.

Whether I was escaping bullies by taking refuge in the library, or escaping daily life by venturing into Longbourn Estate, a dystopian USA or Hogwarts Castle, books were a constant staple.

Nowadays, eBooks are all the rage. They have their benefits; they're easily available, they save trees, they take up less space and they're portable. But, in the rare moments I do have time to read, I refuse to do so off a screen.

Call me old-fashioned, but nothing beats picking up a real book. Taking in their different colours, the feel of a glossy new jacket, the crack of the spine on opening, the rustle of the pages as you flick through, eager to meet new characters or get to the bottom of a perplexing mystery.

It's sensory, tactile. It provides grounding and comfort. Cognitive psychologists say physical sensations, such as feeling the weight of the book, turning its pages and even marking a section with a "dog-ear" help in remembering details and improving comprehension.

Plus, research from Sussex University shows reading a book can reduce stress levels and improve sleep quality by 68 per cent -- while the light from an electronic device can negatively affect sleep quality.

And, of course, a paperback doesn't run out of battery.

Whether we're reading from an original manuscript or from an iPad, a well-read community can only be good thing.

But there's something about the printed word that can't compare to the glow of an LED screen. And I, for one, am glad the books that brought me much joy throughout my life are still going strong.