This article identifies the reasons why Quebec readers of paper books do not read e-books. After analysing data collected from eleven interviews with people over 15 years of age who ex-clusively read paper books, the results indicate that they give a profound meaning to the paper book as a material object. The usage constraints associated with digital books also tend to put them off. The experience of read-ing on a digital medium seems to them both less comfortable and less rich in meaning. Their reluc-tance may stem from a sense of ambivalence towards the grow-ing place of digital interfaces in society and from a malaise in the face of increasingly blurred boundaries between reading and digital. Clearly, certain psycho-social factors influence, such as concern for the environment, the vision of technology and the re-lationship with the actors of the book industry.