the ask@AAR: What’s your preferred way to read?
Here’s a somewhat shocking confession: I haven’t read an actual book in over a year. And I don’t want to. Unless I can read a book on the Kindle app on my iPad, I’m just not interested.
I love reading on my iPad. I love being able to make it dark at night when I’m reading and my husband is falling asleep. I love being able to use the search feature and easily finding out who that obscure character my fading brain can’t recall actually is. I love being able to easily switch from book to book–I’m currently reading the second in a series and, every few chapters, I return to book one in order to recall what actually happened on the Burning Plains of Parsathe. I love how lightweight my iPad is and how I can easily change the way I hold the device and turn the pages. It’s the only way I like to read now and I’m not ashamed to admit it!
My mother hates reading on her iPad as does my sister and my best friend. They love the heft of books, the density of the words, the history of the experience. They’re forever trying to loan me actual books and, every time, they’re startled when I decline those hefty tomes.
I’ve several other friends who prefer audiobooks. They listen while they walk or exercise and say that works best for them. (They also tend to be people who fall asleep the minute they start reading at night.)
It’s lovely we’ve so many choices. What’s your favorite way to read? Why?
As you mentioned the harry potter books are the best source.
I just finished The Goblet of Fire. Listening to these books, over the past year, has been such a gift.
I’m strictly audio, or nearly so. When I do read it’s on my kindle with white letters and a black background because of extreme light sensitivity.
Audio listening works very well for me; I have joined KU on order to get the best Whispersync prices so I can buy even more audiobooks…lol!! I have my preferred narrators, I know what I dislike in a narrator, and concentration isn’t an issue for me. I do sometimes miss making notations, my old paperbacks are full of sticky notes. But I can make notes on audio books too, it’s just not so organic. I really REALLY appreciate that AAR is including more audio book reviews lately; there are lots of us older readers who are beginning to have vision issues and audio is really the only alternative for us. So thanks for supporting that! I have not purchased an actual book in years, except for certain comic book compilations, cookbooks, and all of the hardback versions of the Outlander books. Which I also have digitally and on audio..I’m obsessed, what can I say?
I love a physical book, but I rarely buy them because they just don’t last in the high humidity in my city, in Northern Australia. I borrow them from the library occasionally.
I mostly read on my iPad mini or iPhone XR via either kindle, iBooks or library apps (for long series, actually prefer iBooks on my Apple devices, I love how each author is automatically listed in series in my library; and for indie authors that I know I’m going to want whispersinc in audible, I’ll buy from Amazon).
And I love an audiobook, via either audible or my library apps.
I’m a poly-reader, I usually have 2-3 books going at the same time to cater for my various moods, and I try to mix up the sub-genre’s (eg, Reading historical romance, also reading a fantasy or paranormal romance, and I’ll have a contemporary romance going via audible) to keep it fresh.
I got my first Kindle on eBay in 2009 as Amazon had stopped selling in order to re-issue a new Kindle. I have basically been reading e-books ever since and have a treasure of books in the cloud to reread. I still have my treasured books on my bookshelves and often pick them up to get the feel of them. I have been reading all the comments and I think that most of us have a lot in common as voracious readers. Like many of you I listen to audible when doing household chores and need to keep my hands free. I am presently listening to J.D. Robb and Georgette Heyer. I just finished listening to Venetia and so enjoyed the recent post on Heyer. Dabney keep these wonderful Discussions coming as they have truthfully been a blessing during these extremely difficult times
. Everyone please stay safe and stay healthy.
This is such fun! I love reading about our different attachments to reading material.
I lost my extensive book collection in a house fire and I had only begun to rebuild it (slowly) when I went overseas to work in China with nary a bookstore (in any language) in sight. Kindle became my bible (air freight being costly and precarious) and continues to be. Still, I miss the heft and touch, plus there are some books that I just want to read on paper where I have more space to visualize the content and move about the page. (Odd that.)
I just bought my fourth Kindle (P/W)—the others having died or been taken. What would I do without it? I do, however, find them difficult to browse (the page conks out around the letter “M” and the Kindle has to be restarted). Like many of you, I also use my iPhone for reading while waiting and I used to read on my MacBook Air. Sadly, the new Air with Catalina doesn’t seem to allow Kindle (though I hear there’s some kind of patch that could make the app work). With more than 1000 ebooks, I also begrudge the ownership issues.
I have read maybe 5 books in print since I got my first ereader in 2016. I don’t like to read on my phone and only do it in a pinch. The ability to change the brightness and font size on my ereader makes it my first choice. I do listen to audiobooks but at a much slower pace.
I now read nearly all fiction on my kindle. History, biography, cookbooks, travel reference books are usually paper and even, on occasion hardback. This is because there are often wonderful colour illustrations that I can’t view on my kindle device. I don’t buy many cookbooks anymore as virtually any recipe can be found on the internet. I don’t use my tablet for reading as I share it with my husband so it’s not always available when I want it. I am a news junkie and have newspapers delivered to our home daily but also read onliine versions, especially papers in the USA – I live in England. I don’t read books on my phone (too tiny) unless I am sitting in a waiting room and have forgotten to bring my kindle.
I prefer to read ebooks, especially for fiction. I started on the good old Palm Pilot, and now I use my phone or my Samsung tablet, and coordinate it all using Calibre. I don’t really like the Amazon app, but I use it for some books. I don’t do KU.
I haven’t bought a “real” book in years. I love my iPad mini with the Kindle app for most of the reasons everyone has mentioned. I have recently started listening to audio books. I will be 60 this year and find I fall asleep when reading at night. The audio started with the Harry Potter books – which are the best. I am actually listening to books that I have read years ago and really enjoying them, although there is a learning curve when starting to listen to books.
The Harry Potter books are the best.
I have an iPad, but it isn’t one of the smaller ones and I use it for reading news and some email. It gets heavy use, but I don’t like a backlit screen for late-night reading. Dabney’s description of being able to toggle between books and so on makes me wonder if the Nook’s software is second rate or if I am just underusing it.
I read poetry in hard copy. I don’t really trust that a poem on an electronic interface will look as the poet intended, and I don’t want my impression of a poem to be distorted by unintended line breaks. Art books, quilting books, and cookbooks are all hard copy. I also receive hardcovers as gifts a lot, mostly history books, so that’s the way I read them.
I read for hours every day and did even before I retired. Most of my reading is on my Nook because the screen can be illuminated but is more like reading on paper, and that reading is mostly romance with some science fiction and general fiction. Now that my eyes are acting up, I like being able to adjust the type size. I do resent the fact that so many interesting romance titles only can be obtained through Amazon, and so I can’t get them on my Nook.
My dream device would have a much better and more extensive English dictionary along with the option to purchase and install a foreign language-to-English dictionary with the same ability for me to highlight a word in the text, but receive not just the definition but also the translation. I would also like a battery that lasts much longer, and storage that can hold a couple thousand books without putting them in the cloud. (I regularly visit folks who live without WiFi in rural places where my cell phone doesn’t work either.) I would like to see software that lets a reader manage a large library easily according to their preferences— so, something with enough options to satisfy a wide range of librarians — plus a way to reliably tell me not to buy that novella because I already have it stuck in the back of a romance I already bought. And… I resent that I’m not actually buying but renting ebooks, and I would really like to be able to buy some work in hard copy and get an ebook version “free.”
The Kindle on ipad and the Kindle both do almost all of what you long for on your dream device. Amazon sells lots of used Kindles–but you would, I think, lose the books on your Nook. If you got an ipad, you can read Nook and Kindle books and you could slowly switch to mostly Amazon books.
There were some books for a while that allowed you to get a free or heavily discounted kindle version if you bought it first as a “physical” book. If you purchased from Amazon they kept track of it, so I was able to pick up some books I had wanted in kindle form for a few dollars. I’m not sure if they do that anymore.
I’ve used e-ink epub Readers for years (first from Sony, now from Kobo). They have all had built-in dictionaries. I just checked the Kobo Aura user guide and it also offered translation and the ability to download dictionaries for multiple languages. I assume their newer models continue or enhance those features. In terms of storage, my current reader holds several thousand ebooks (I’m guessing memory will run out somewhere around 15,000-20,000, but don’t know for sure), so I keep all my ebooks loaded on it for instant access.
I read on my phone pretty much exclusively. It has many advantages for me. As others have said, the ability to read anytime, anywhere, even in the dark. The ability to read little snatches whenever I have a minute really increases my reading time, since my phone is always with me. I only need one hand to hold the phone and turn the pages.
It hurts me when I damage books, so my paper books always looked brand new when I’d finished them. This really limits portability and I felt tied to reading them in one place and never managed to get all the conditions right to sit down and read. I have also discovered the joy of highlighting and annotating books on my phone. I would never have dared deface a paper book that way, but it’s so easy on the phone! (From other comments here I gather it’s more difficult on an e-reader).
There is no storage where I live and I can’t have a paper book collection much as I would love to, so the phone also has the advantage of easily carrying hundreds of books everywhere with me. The ability to instantly download whatever book I feel like reading, and the fact that it’s friendlier on my budget are other important points.
Since my burnout I struggle much more to concentrate when I read paper books. I can’t explain it and it saddens me, but unless a book is very fast-paced or truly a favourite, I just can’t get into it when I read on paper. I have no such difficulty on a screen. Go figure.
I still love paper books though. Their feel, their shape, their smell, the beautiful covers, the sight of a shelf full of good books… So satisfying. And I do find it harder to pick books to read on a digital platform. The experience of going to a bookshop and being surrounded with so many beautiful books to page through and choose from is incomparable and one of my favourite things in the world, and I miss it. I think the compromise will be that when I have shelf space, I’ll carefully build a collection of my favourite books in paper version.
Cookbooks are a bit of a problem for me still, the paper versions are so satisfying to my soul, but I have no space for them and they are very expensive. I’ll be trying the ebook versions in the coming months and seeing if I can get used to them. I think the search function could be really useful in a cookbook.
I wanted to like audiobooks and tried a few, but strangely I hated them all. I thought I was having terrible luck with my choice of books but then I switched to ebook for one I’d started on audio and realised it was much less aggravating as an ebook. I think audiobooks just aren’t for me, they seem to make me hate every book! I am also a reader who needs to read some passages more slowly, and sometimes I like to skip back a paragraph or two to help something stick in my mind more (my memory isn’t the best), and not being able to do that with audio frustrates me. I’ll stick to podcasts or youtube videos when my hands are busy but my brain needs to be occupied.
I was also one of those people who kept their paperbacks meticulously. I never bent the spine, or a page and stored them all on bookcases out of direct light. And the mass markets all deteriorated anyway. Some yellowed, pages came loose from the glue, you name it. They are just so cheaply produced they are made to disintegrate. It’s one of the things that helped propel me to ebooks.
Having worked in a bookstore and knowing how much waste mass markets produce and how they are discarded if not sold (only the cover is kept as proof the bookstore destroyed the books so they get credit from the publisher) ebooks are just better for the environment. They use no wood or paper, take no fossil fuels to deliver them and there is zero waste. 99% of mass markets are probably going to end up in the garbage dump because they are just made to be used and discarded. Ebooks save so many resources. That’s why I think it’s crazy when they are priced the same as a hardcover. I think the authors deserve the same amount for writing them but there is no way it costs as much to produce an ebook as it does a hardcover or paperback that must be printed and shipped.
I hadn’t thought of that but you make a very interesting point, thank you for this perspective.
And I absolutely agree on the price of ebooks. Some of them are ridiculously expensive and it’s not justifiable.
Working at a bookstore when I was young really opened my eyes to a lot of waste. We used to throw out a dumpster full of new paperback books at a time. It cost too much for shipping for the publishers to want the cheaply made paperbacks back so all that was returned was the books’ covers once we ripped them off. Then the store promised the books were “unsold and destroyed” and got credit back for them. It could happen for any reason including when publishers raised the price on the book which used to be printed on the back of the book. We would pull the same books with the old price, put out the new ones with the higher price and destroy the older, but still new and perfectly good ones.
I do miss the feel of the paperbacks and the colors of the covers and spines on the shelf. I still have several shelves of favorites but haven’t let myself buy any for years.
The down side of ebooks and the rise of Amazon is the end of the used paperback stores. I used to have a great time hunting through the shelves, finding backlist books from authors I liked and out of print goodies,
I’m a paper reader and have been annotating my paper bound books for decades in pencil. I’ve never felt it was a desecration though since it feels to me more like an act of engagement. In fact, I still have first Pride and Prejudice paperback from 10th grade English class with all of my marginal notes in it. I still use the same version when I reread it annually and I laugh at some of the thoughts I had when younger. For those who check out paper library books and don’t want to write in the margins or even those who want to keep their paper books pristine, post-its are good options and I know lots of people who go that route. In the English department where I work I see lots of faculty and students walking around with hundreds of post-its sticking out of their books.
I used to be hardcore real books — loved the hunt at used bookstores, the feel of books, just owning and seeing them. I’ve now transitioned almost full time to Kindle for a couple reasons. One, I have a tremor in my arm and tired muscles make it worse. Even paperbacks are heavier than a Kindle (and forget hardbacks), so Kindle is way easier for me to hold and use, especially for long periods of time. Second, my reading tastes have changed and I mostly read M/M now. I don’t feel like advertising what I read, so Kindle makes it easier as well. Plus, the print price for many M/M books is higher than I want to pay. I still buy a book here and there I want to own (the In Death series in particular) but I have significantly downsized what physical books I have and buy few new ones. On the other hand, I have 300+ books on my Kindle and way more than that that I’ve purchased through the years.
I read everything on my iPad on the kindle app -except for library books that I read through the Overdrive App on my iPad.
I first bought an I-touch a million years ago because they had just announced the kindle app for it and I think the 1st gen kindles were even more money. (I ended up getting a second gen Kindle later). I started reading everything on the I touch and dearly wishing I had a bigger version of it.
When they announced the iPad it was like someone made my wish come true. I bought one the second day it was released (because I didn’t want to wait in a line the day of release). I have never looked back since. I forget how many I have had, only because the software becomes obsolete if you can’t keep upgrading. I have never broken one. I either trade it in or give it away when it gets old.
The iPad is all my dreams come true. It has its own light source, holds infinite books, allows me to adjust the font, lighting, page views. and I can sort my books anyway I like. If I want a book, I can read a preview online and get it in seconds. I have alerts for sales on all my favorite authors books so I can snap them up when there are deals on amazon.
For years I went through itty bitty book lights trying to get a concentrated reading light on my paper or cloth books and had to keep moving the clip around to flip pages. I was always that woman with a book jammed in her purse so I could read any time I had a moment. Now I can carry an infinite number of them with meall the time and read in the dark or light.
The only “real books” I buy are those in hardcover or larger books like coffee table or instructional books like sewing, cooking etc. , art books or things like that. Any novels I buy are strictly ebooks now as all the walls in my entire home are already covered in full bookcases. Being able to cull old disintegrated paperbacks has really helped a lot. I am still working on replacing all of them with ebooks but I’ve made a good dent.
My work reading is 90% in print. Personal reading is all through kindle app on my Samsung tablet. I have an iPad as well but for some reason for reading books, I prefer the Samsung.
This Vox article explains why ebooks haven’t taken over more of the market. A big piece: price.
True. I won’t pay paper book prices for an e-book.
But because of self-publishing (?) I own way more Kindle books than I would have ever expected when I first got my Kindle. Too often it is the most cost-efficient way to read a romance (e.g. library doesn’t provide access). I’m thinking about lgbtq romances in particular. Libraries are getting better but sometimes outright purchase is the only option for all the DIK reviews here at AAR :-)
I’m going to say it, publishers are big liars. They can argue all day but there is no way I am going to believe it only costs $2.00 more to produce a hardcover than an ebook. Sorry, don’t believe it. And what about shipping costs?
I highly value portability and easiness of contents search. Therefore, for fiction I use my iPad and my Kobo (I mainly read epub format). Re: non-fiction for academic purposes, is either pdfs in the iPad or the Mac or paper if the digital version is not available. Nowadays, I even prefer to have the PhD theses under evaluation in pdf.
Nonetheless, I have thousands of paper books at home (mostly non fiction) and I would really miss if they were not around. A home with no books is a lesser home for me.
My preference is situational. I love going to the library, checking out books and reading both at home and at the library. Physical books are so much better for maps, illustrations and pictures. Audiobooks are perfect for the car- I have been a car listener since books on tape in the 90’s- I have “read” many books that would not have attempted in print (looking at you, Moby Dick). Plus some authors work better for me if the story is told to me (Tony Hillerman for example). I never thought I would take to the Kindle app on my phone the way I have, especially since I now live alone and find myself reading in bed. I have access to many more ebooks from my library and reading on my phone is so handy when I am out and about and have a some time to kill. I used to be a bit of a book snob but am a total 3 way convert :-)
This made me think of a fairly recent hard cover book series purchase not too long ago. Tagged along with a friend to a library’s yearly book sale- it is a really big event in our area. I had no plans to buy anything because of my TBR piles in all three media. Well, out of the blue, while looking in boxes under the tables that had not yet been unloaded I found the Jalna series which was an absolute favorite from my teenage years. OMG! All sixteen books! I think one of the volunteers as well as my friend thought I was having a fit. $10 for two bags of books- what an amazing find. I have looked on line over the years but just couldn’t make myself pay what folks were asking. I don’t have room for these books- 15 of them are currently on a shelf in the bedroom closet- but am delighted to own them. Something to be said for the joy “real” books bring especially when it is a blast from the past.
I love physical books, but as I age, my books seem to have shrinking print. I only need to slightly adjust the font size on my Kindle to read easily. My husband borrowed my other Kindle to read library books, and he admits he can read more easily with the device than regular books.
I agree with pros and cons everyone has already pointed out, so I read in all formats, and would not want to lose any of them.
I’ve been a Kindle reader for more than a decade and cannot imagine not using it. It is so easy (physically) to read (one-handed, enlarged type, in the dark, many titles, etc.) FWIW, I keep my Kindle in airplane mode except when downloading books. Perhaps the device is still tracking where I start or stop regardless, and all that data is being uploaded every time I connect. But I don’t like the idea of someone watching me read. I used to sync to my phone to read in line at the doctor’s office. But my Voyager (Paperwhite) without a cover is so trim and lightweight, it goes with me everywhere.
I like physical books particularly for learning and book group discussions. E-readers are just clumsy for anything except reading, especially book marking and notations. It’s very disruptive to stop and get the highlight tool to open, etc. compared to a quick pencil mark on paper. Also, that is just more data I don’t want Amazon or anyone else to have. Sorting and browsing for books on a shelf (e.g. in series order) is much easier/faster on a shelf. And yes a quick search for a character or place is quick in an ebook but looking for quotes or passages is easier in a physical book, IMO. Also, I like a physical copy on the shelf for books that are important to me. Libraries are no longer reliable sources for hard to find titles (they weed pretty hard these days), and I don’t trust tech companies to not renege on their lease agreements. So even though we “downsized” hard a couple of years ago, we still own physical books, CDs, DVDs, etc.
Audio is fabulous for anything “hands free”: exercise, housework, yard work, sewing, or just when my eyes are tired. Yes, a poor narrator can ruin a book and I can read much faster off a page. But audio books increase the overall number of books I can read in a year, and make some activities (pulling weeds? getting a walk in?) more enjoyable/likely to happen.
Yes, the notation aspect of reading works best, I’ve found, the good old-fashioned way. Sometimes technology is not always better. As a reader I’ve been trained to read always with a pencil in my hand and without an actual physical book to notate, I keep a writing journal next to me. I really don’t enjoy the digital bookmarking or notes section of an e-reader. I also find that the physical act of writing with a pencil/pen on paper imprints information and makes it easier to retain and to comprehend. As a writer, I use my laptop to compose, but whenever I hit a snag or block, I go right to my pen and paper to work through ideas.
I use iBooks on my phone. I get to read only while nursing her or after she sleeps at night. Though I used to love reading books, read on my phone is more convenient.
The more I use my phone/iPad, the more I like them. I don’t want to switch back as of now.
My iBooks has more than 700 books. Imaging having so many actual books at home! My bookshelf will not be enough. :)
I like both e-readers and printed books, but with my bias toward reading more recent releases, I actually read a lot more ebooks than printed books. We still have thousands of paperbacks, but I stopped buying them years back when we filled our shelves and had no room to build more. My current device is a Kobo Aura One Limited Edition (which isn’t even available now—I think the Kobo Forma is the current upgrade). It is somewhat larger than the Kobo Aura and various Sony eReaders that preceded it. It has the virtue of having enough memory to load all the thousands of ebooks I’ve accumulated since I started getting ebooks in 2006. I also listen to audio while I exercise, but I only get non-fiction in audio. For the last several years, all the audios have been from The Great Courses.
What a fun question for the ASK! And great comments from everybody so far. Here’s my answer:
I prefer e-books for romances and other “racy” material that I don’t want others to see me reading. Overdrive books from the library are also great when I have to read something *right now* and don’t feel like or can’t go to the library.
Other than that, I strongly prefer physical books for my reading. I like their weight, their feel, seeing how much progress I’ve made with my bookmark (the percentage read feature on a digital reader doesn’t give me the same physical feedback of accomplishment that I want), and the appearance. Also, I find print books to be easier on my eyes than a screen. Audiobooks are a no go for me because of attention span issues (i.e. my mind often wanders when I’m reading- I’d be rewinding the dang audio all the time) and just a general dislike of hearing a story being read rather than doing it myself.
Plus, in favor of physical books, I love the act of going to the library and poking around. I confess I spend more time doing that than actually reading. :)
The only audiobook I’ve ever listened to and loved was the Red Dwarf novelization “Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers” just because Chris Barrie is awesome and can do all the voices. :)
With romance… I have to confess, hearing someone else read out a sex scene would just not work for me. I’d feel like there was a stranger narrating the sex to me, rather than me being in the characters’ minds or bodies. And I’d probably also have the same attention span issues you do. I can skim boring parts of a story when I’m reading, but not when I’m listening.
That’s a great point about the sex scenes in audiobooks vs text. I wonder what would be more awkward, listening to others narrating sex scenes or narrating sex scenes for others to listen to.
“I can skim boring parts of a story when I’m reading…” Ha ha! I’d say it works the other way too. Sometimes, I’ll run across a passage in a book that’s particularly funny or poetic, so I like to stop and read it again carefully.
By the way, I haven’t seen you here in a while. Glad to see you still comment at AAR. :)
Thanks! I’m still around. It’s just that I work in a hospital, so that’s kept me busy lately, but we’re hoping to get matters more under control with time.
I also love the anonymity of my iPad, phone or kindle. When I used to read paperbacks I had a leather book cover I would slip over whatever paperback I was reading. No matter if it was a mystery, romance or whatever, I liked my reading to be personal.
ebooks all day long.
Cookbooks are a whole different kettle of fish. Cooking is my love language and I own an embarrassing number of cookbooks…I like the covers, the colorful spines, the pictures, and the dirty pages of recipes I return to over, and over. I tried borrowing digital cookbooks from my library, but it 100% does not work for me, and isn’t the same experience.
My bookshelves hold older, print books I’ve loved and cookbooks. Otherwise, I read electronically.
I’m the opposite. I don’t understand cookbooks in the age of the internet. Someone just gave me one for my birthday and I was distressed. I’ll never use it–I’ll just look recipes up on the internet instead.
I’m more a fan of paper books in general, but I hate digital cookbooks with a passion. I’ve tried, and nope, it does not work for me at all. I have a cookbook book shelf in my kitchen and love looking at the titles. I love opening them up to the pages for each beloved recipe. I also tend to purchase too many and just recently boxed up dozens and took them to Goodwill.
I despise digital cookbooks. They take forever to load and flipping pages in digital is so frustrating, especially while cooking.
Yep! And I also amend recipes too if I’m cooking a dish I’ve made multiple times. I often find that I add or take away from ingredients and it’s just more comfortable to me to use a pencil or pen in the margins.
I prefer reading digitally, which I’ve been doing for around 10 years now. I read paperback when that’s the only format available (usually re-reads for books I own). My preference for reading devices:
1) My 3rd Gen Kindle Keyboard — easiest on the eyes for me. I bought a paperwhite a few years ago in case my old Kindle dies or Amazon stops supporting it, but so far it is still working fine for my needs, and I actually prefer it over the paperwhite.
2) iPhone, but only for short period of time, such as when I’m waiting at a Dr.’s office. The iPhone also doesn’t strain my eyes as much as an iPad
3) iPad-mini, but only for a short period of time. I mainly only use iPad for Open Library downloads to a reading app, and even then, I read more slowly because the backlighting, no matter how much I play with settings, will bother my eyes after a little while.
I also listen to audios, which I mostly get from the library or Scribd. Before this pandemic, I listened when I commuted and when doing housework. Now that I’m working from home full-time, I listen when I’m walking or exercising and when doing housework.
One reason I like physical copies is because there’s a history to them. There’s my copy of “The Love Charm” that I bought in a second-hand bookstore in Texas. Another one has a library stamp from some town in Georgia. Another book is out-of-print but I found it at a garage sale. There’s my copy of “Gone with the Wind” that a friend gave me for my birthday seven years ago. I have two paperbacks autographed by Terry Pratchett. The books come with memories. I don’t feel the same way about ebooks.
That said, if I bought physical copies of every book I read, I’d be out of space and money in no time. I like the fact that even though the libraries are closed now, I can access their collections with Overdrive. I don’t have an e-reader, but I can read books on my phone or on my PC. So there’s something to be said for both formats.
books are friends and i need to be close, so much prefer the actual physical objects. i also like to keep my favorites and go back again and again.
however, with my new hist. romance obsession i have just read my first books online this spring.
So thankful for my public library and openlibrary.org (the internet archive)! I have been able to access so many classic titles/authors.
and i have not yet listened to an audiobook.
Our library’s digital content is still open right now, whereas the physical library is closed temporarily. That definitely gives digital an edge during a pandemic.
I greatly prefer paper books, especially paperbacks for reading in bed, but most of my reading comes from the library. I am incredibly grateful that even though my library building is closed, the digital library is still functioning. I would be in really bad shape without it.
Prior to about five or so years ago, I read only physical books. Then one of my daughters upgraded her Kindle, told me I needed to get into the 21st century, gave me her old one (it was said more kindly than that—but that was the message). Since then, I haven’t looked back. While I still read the occasional physical book—either from the library or from our own hoard (we have a houseful of books—the accumulation of two avid readers/English majors married for over 30 years, along with their three young-adult/avid-reader children)—whenever I add a new book to my tbr list, I check to see if my library has it as an ebook or if it’s available through Kindle Unlimited (my monthly KU fee generally pays for itself within the first week of the month). If I can’t find an ebook, I’ll see if I can get a physical copy from the library; if not, I’ll put the book on my “watch for this to be on sale” list (unless the book is from an autobuy author—and then I usually buy it as soon as it’s published using funds from my book budget). I love having access to so many books right in my hands with a Kindle, and I love all the sort & search features it provides. I believe there will always be a place for physical books in my life, but—other than through a used-book sale or as a gift—I haven’t purchased a physical book since 2015.
You know, sometimes you don’t realize something until you’re staring right at it—but, as I reread my comment above, I suddenly made the connection between getting a Kindle five years ago and the fact that, at about the same time, my romance reading moved from almost exclusively historicals to almost exclusively contemporaries. Part of that was certainly personal preference, but I suspect it might have also been driven by the enormous quantity of contemporary romances that are available as freebie downloads or through Kindle Unlimited or for a very inexpensive price (“A 99-cent anthology featuring ten books? I gotta have it!”). I think there’s some truth in saying that the TYPE of book I chose to read was in some part influenced by the device I was using to read them.
The secret to Amazon’s book selling is, in part, right there.
DiscoDollyDeb, I think the same thing may have happened to me. I read way more historicals than contemporaries throughout the 1990s and 2000s and now it is the complete opposite. However, we are hearing a lot about the dearth of good historicals in recent years…. For me, it may be about the price point as I just don’t see a lot of $3.99 or less historical romance e-books out there and I don’t take as many risks with new authors if the price is higher. But maybe Amazon is not marketing inexpensive historicals to me because I haven’t bought them previously? It’s a self-perpetuating cycle!
That is interesting! I don’t read or purchase books based on price and so free books are not enticing to me unless I already want them. In the end, my time is still quantifiable and so if I’m reading tons of free books that were unplanned, I would never get around to the books I actually plan for. I might be more of a planner than many readers though. I just got talked into purchasing Kindle Unlimited for my niece and so we’ll see if this changes anything for me, but I kind of doubt it.
I agree Blackjack! I never look at free books at Amazon or anywhere else; there is just too much crap to wade through there. My TBR of recommended reading is too large and life is too short to read drek just because it is free or cheap. And I’m “trying” KU again at the moment, because people keep talking about it. But I find it (deliberately) difficult to find anything I might want to read. It is easy enough to search for a specific title and determine whether or not it is part of KU (all too often it is not, which becomes a time-consuming, frustrating exercise). But to just browse for something? Forget it. Give me AAR recommendations any day, and twice on Sunday.
I haven’t read a ‘dead tree’ for … I can’t remember how many years. And even then, I think the only ones I did read were print arcs sent to me for review here. I’d started to read books electronically before I got my first Kindle – I had an old PDA (remember those?!) then got a Kindle fairly soon after they first came out. I like being able to have so many books at hand when I’m out or on holiday, and I like that they don’t take up any space – we have a house full of groaning bookshelves already. And now I’m getting older, I think the print size might be an issue with regular books and that I’d need to read with the overhead lights on fulil, which isn’t ideal. I’m on my second Paperwhite now and wouldn’t be without it. I like that I can take it everywhere, I like that I don’t have to worry about not being able to find my place and I like the choice of reading material it gives me when I’m away from home. Oh, and the new P/W can also play audiobooks (as long as I remember my bluetooth headphones!).
And on the subject of audiobooks, they’re my other preferred method of literary consumption. Last year, for the first time, I listened to as many (if not more) books than I read. I’ve seen all those daft arguments over “you’re not really reading a book if you’re listening to it” – well, no I’m not using my eyes, but I’m using my ears and I’m hearing the same words, often, if the narrator is good, with something added. That’s the great thing about audiobooks – a really good narrator can enhance the experience considerably. The downside, of course, is that a bad narrator can ruin it.
So for me, it’s ebooks and audiobooks. I haven’t bought a print book in ages, other than for someone else (my eldest daughter – she’s twenty – still prefers ‘dead trees’, and I understand why people do love them. But my Kindle goes everywhere with me, and I wouldn’t – couldn’t – be without it.
I like both ebooks and physical books. I tend to alternate between the two and get them depending on how expensive the physical book is, how easy it is for me to buy it… I’m hopeful some authors or those in charge of their books are going to keep releasing digital editions of older books…
Like Blackjack, I LOVE seeing my bookshelves, I love touching my physical books. I also like the fact I can store so much more books in my computer or in a pen drive.
I tried an audio book once, of a favorite book to see how I coped, and I disliked the experience, both for the narrator’s voice and the fact I couldn’t really concentrate.
I do have two ancient bookcases–like from the 1800s–that are full of old books that I love to look at. My grandfather collected antique books and I have some that date back hundreds of years. I love seeing them shelved next to books from mine and my children’s childhood. The visual story those bookcases tell is the one of my generational life and it makes me so happy every time I stand in front of it and gaze at the titles.
We moved into our current house 9 years ago and one of the reasons I fell in love with the house was beautiful build-in floor to ceiling bookshelves in the formal living room. It’s the first room you see when you walk into the house and I filled those shelves with my hardback children’s book collection (the first 14 Oz books, Narnia, Harry Potter, etc) plus much of my mystery paperback collection (including the entire J.D. Robb collection – still growing – in a prime front shelf spot). I absolutely love the way it looks and like Dabney, it makes me so happy to see it. I have bookshelves in other parts of the house too – all full – and a massive chest of drawers that is filled with my paperback/hardback TBR collection. Despite being a Kindle convert, I do still love physical books but I’m running out of space and hubby’s tolerance is only going to go so far!
I’ve never been an audio reader either. I love the physical act of viewing text and doing the work of imagining scenes and events in my head. I even like to imagine how characters sound when speaking, and audio books take that away from readers – just as films take away the imaginative work of constructing in one’s head what characters look like. I always nag students to read the book first before seeing the movie so that they have that first chance before someone else’s artistic vision is implanted in their brain for them.
On the other hand, back when I had to commute, audio books were a great way to pass time, and I do find that I get through a lot more books this way.
I read digital books more than paperbound but I still prefer paper. I love the tactile nature of holding a paper book in my hands and turning pages. I love my home library and looking at books on my shelves. Books are attractive to have in one’s home and digital copies cannot fill that gap. I love underlining and was trained as a literature student to read actively with a pencil to notate. I do use some of the highlighting and bookmarking with an ereader, but I still prefer the actual tactile pleasure of using a good old-fashioned pencil. Also, as an educator, students today are returning to paperbound books. Studies have shown in more recent years that people tend to retain more when reading a paperbound rather than digital copy of a text and that has had administrators and educators rethinking the rush to digitalize everything. Finally, from time to time, my battery runs low or I have a technical glitch and that reminds me of the reliability of a paper book. I still read Kindle books and appreciate some of the characteristics, but this has not been an either/or situation for me. Both can be appreciated.
As a parent, I second the great efficacy for learning of real books rather than e. I’d argue that electronic learning across the board is less effective than in person teaching taught with tactile materials.
My daughter always wants the paperback, but she mainly reads graphic novels and manga. She and her friends loan books to one another, which plays into the paperback preference. They also like having a paperback collection.
My teen niece too loves paperback. She buys with her own money and she has had a library card for years and brings home stacks at a time.
For teens and YA I think print books have street cred and digital books just don’t make the cut (or have limited appeal).
Digital books aren’t as popular as you would think. The People’s Guide to Publishing, published by small press owner Joe Biel in December 2018, had an interesting list of statistics. E-book sales overall make up 5% or less of the total reading market. However, about 70% of romance, erotica, and certain pulp fiction subgenres are sold through e-book. Basically, he said any genre that people would be embarrassed to read on a public bus does great on e-book, but pretty much nothing else does.
Most studies show that ebooks make up 20% of all books purchased.
Huh… Keep in mind the statistics I read are from about two years ago (and I should probably double check what he wrote, been a while since I’ve read it). Plus the author, who is known for being pro-zines and anti-KDP (boo hiss!) probably skewed his interpretation of sales results based on how he defines reading material. You know what they say, “There’s lies. There’s damn lies. Then there’s statistics.”
So I used to be a hardcore, ride-or-die lover of actual, physical books. However, a few years ago my husband finally got so fed up with me bringing along a dozen or more books on every vacation (I needed choice!) that he forced me to get a Kindle (he hated the extra luggage weight). Then….I fell in love with the Kindle for so many reasons. I love not needing to wear my reading glasses, being able to read at night while hubby sleeps without having to keep the nightstand lamp on, the bookmark feature, and being able to put SO MANY BOOKS on it. I love that my iPhone has a Kindle app so I can continue reading my book while waiting in line or eating lunch out (not that I have eaten lunch out in the past 2 months). I love that my library is so romance-friendly and gets a wide variety of romance e-books, including many reviewed on this site, and I can check them out without even having to leave my home! I love that I have discovered so many new authors due to their inexpensive e-books. And for some unclear reason, I feel like I can read books on the Kindle faster than paper books. Does anyone else feel that way? Now, I do still love and buy physical books but it tends to be mostly authors where I already had a collection of their paperback or hardback books. On the other hand, my e-book TBR has grown to over 200 books BUT hubby can’t tease me about it because he doesn’t see any physical evidence, ha ha! So, although I would NEVER have predicted it, I am now a Kindle convert!
YES to all of this!!
I think all things being equal I like paper books, but like you, I’ve discovered advantages to ebook that are just insurmountable:
– instant delivery, whether purchase or library
– no need for storage
– no need to carry books around with me
– can read in the dark when my husband goes to bed first
– can read one handed while doing other things like eating
– price point is lower
– no need to answer questions about the cover (I can read during work lunch and nobody knows what)
– flexible font size and style
I prefer the Kindle app for its font -‘f brightness settings even though amazon is awful but I will read on iBooks when I have to.
Yes to all of these.
Kindle is my preference. The very few hard copy books I have are gifts from members of my Romance Readers Group.
My phone in its case has a decent amount of heft ;-) but for private reading I prefer physical books.
I find reading on my phone unsatisfying. I attribute that to be as old as dirt.
I used to read on my I -touch or iPod touch (whatever it was called) when they first got the kindle app way back before iPads existed. Now I don’t know how I did it squinting at that small screen.
I used to read on a I-touch before the iPad existed. Now I look back and think how? The screen was so tiny. But you do what you have to do. Plus I was a lot younger then.