While millennials are sometimes blamed for killing industries, it's actually younger people who appear to be popularizing print. So, they are coming to print for a whole, quite a complex mess of reasons and I think … it's harder to have an emotional relationship with what you're reading if it's on an e-reader.' 'It's partly the political landscape, people are looking for escape, but they are also looking for information. It's more than a decade since Amazon launched the Kindle, and for Halls, there is also a hunger for information and a desire to escape the screen. Genres that do well in print include nature, cookery and children's books, while people prefer to read crime, romantic novels and thrillers via e-reader, according to Nielsen Book International. It's about decorating your home, it's about collecting, I guess, because people are completists aren't they, they want to have that to indicate about themselves.'

'The book lover loves to have a record of what they've read, and it's about signaling to the rest of the world. People love to display what they've read, she added.

Publishers are producing incredibly gorgeous books, so the cover designs are often gorgeous, they're beautiful objects,' she told CNBC. 'I think the e-book bubble has burst somewhat, sales are flattening off, I think the physical object is very appealing. While digital media has disrupted other industries such as news publishing and the music business, people still love to own physical books, according to Meryl Halls, managing director of the Booksellers' Association in the U.K.

Best books to read 2017 on kindle