I relate

Both I and my book feel personally attacked by this cartoon.

It's a charm against boredom.

If you don't bring the book, you'll be sitting around bored wishing you'd brought it with you.

If you do bring it, you'll never have time to read it.

Currently my Steam Deck is fulfilling that purpose.

Steam eBook reader
- Steamy book reader, you say? 👀

this is what motivated me to switch to pdfs/ebooks. i can now read any of my books on my phone/laptop whenever i want with no planning required. although i know it’s not for everyone, and i am missing out on building up a cool bookshelf.

Buy the paper, pirate the ebook, cool shelf acquired
- This is what I do as well. Just know that you will still get judged by "real book people" for having a bookshelf of pristine, unread books even though you've read all of them.
Yes. With an ebook reader, I can now not read the 500 books I carry!
- I mean, there are just too many to choose from!

I feel very called out and I'm never going to change anything about it!

My emotional support book.

Rofl, I copied you unintentionally. Yes, it's real.

The emotional support book is non-negotiable.

Well how else am I going to lose my bookmark

Motion to bring back the girdle book.

Don't mind me and my folder of 1000 .epub files I have on my phone that I'll never read 😅

Me too. I have become very particular in my age tho. 90% of them I quit around chapter 1.
Are you familiar with royal road? The works of DWinchester?

Pre-portable reader days having a book was essential. It stopped for me somewhere in the late aughts but I was highly reliant on free newspapers for another decade.

I remember the desperate scramble to find something to read when I had to go take a shit.

Can't relate, if I don't take my book I'm going to be thinking"this sucks I could be reading"

Same as all physical possessions really. In one way or another.

I feel attacked (and scuffed and dog-eared).

Hum... You can be interested enough in a book to remember to get it before going out, but not interested enough to want to read it at every chance?

For me it’s usually a matter of overestimating how many chances I’ll have to read while I’m out. Or how tired I’ll be when I finally do get a moment of down time. Hard to read through closed eyes.

Oh yeah, Americans don't have good public transport. So they don't understand that as a place to read.