First, I present the positive representations associated with reading on ereaders, which are appreciated for their potential in terms of practicality. Next, I analyse obstacles to the development of digital reading: attachment to reading on paper; the need to own books; and the desire to display them. Finally, I study actual practices of reading on e-readers and examine the social causes that explain why the structure of reading practices is not affected by the use of digital technology, and thus, why not all readers participate in these new practices of reading.
The rise of these new practices among the leisure activities of the French explains the hopes that were pinned to the development of digital reading, situated as it is at the crossroads of the distinctive cultural practice of reading literature and digital practices. The enthusiastic discourse that surrounded e-books assumed that they would be the tool that could bring people—especially the young, who in principle are more tech-savvy than their elders—back to reading.
Novel reading, the focus of this article, is a particularly interesting angle from which to analyse the reception of e-books. Moreover, the shift from paper to digital format scarcely alters the content of literature, which is not the case with textbooks, for example Gossin —and so we might imagine that reading novels digitally would be less disorienting to those hesitant about digital reading than reading content from other sectors.
Finally, since reading literature has such strong legitimacy as a cultural practice, novels might be more likely than other types of publication to allow for a different relationship to the materiality of books.
In order to reach a more nuanced understanding of reading practices, we must therefore begin by focusing on the mechanisms that determine whether a reader will accept or reject digital reading. The data on which this article are based were gathered as part of my doctoral research on novel reading and practices surrounding book recommendations.
