white_hart | Saturday discussion post: book formats (23/365)

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Saturday discussion post: book formats (23/365)

How do you prefer to read books? Have you embraced ebooks or are you sticking to paper books? Or maybe audio books fit into your life better?

I still love paper books: the feel, the smell, the sense of history of second-hand books (I have a copy of Mansfield Park my grandmother gave me when she got a new match set of Austen which she'd got second or even third hand and which was originally given to someone by Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of the postage stamp). In particular, I prefer reading non-fiction in paper format and not ebook, and I like paper books for re-reading because it's much easier to find favourite scenes than it is in an ebook.

I also love my kindle, though. Without it, I would probably have had to move to a bigger house to fit all the books in by now. And there's a lot to be said for being able to carry hundreds of books with you and not having to worry about have spare books with you in case you run out of reading material, and being able to read huge epic novels without worrying about whether you can fit them in your bag. (Not that I go anywhere or carry bags any more, but one day I might do that again.) I also find that not being able to idly flick through pages when I know I should be putting the book down and going to sleep and then finding I've skimmed through the whole thing is a good thing, and recently I've also discovered that when my brain is struggling to focus and I keep losing my place so that reading a whole page of text takes ages being able to increase the font size so I only have a few words per page really helps.

I don't do audio books, though I like the idea; unfortunately I struggle too much to concentrate on audio and while I can listen to discussion podcasts while doing something with my hands that stops my brain wandering off on random tangents until I suddenly realise I haven't heard anything for the last ten minutes, I can't manage enough concentration for a story.

How about you?

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Hello! I have Views about this.

(And the understanding that my Views are based around what works for me, and I totally get it if you Book differently.)

I absolutely love and adore ebooks. Without ebooks, I would be out of shelf space. And house space. And just space, really. I used to really struggle with packing for long plane or train journeys, because of the number of books I can get through in a few hours. Now, it's practically impossible to run out of books. I can get several days' reading before I need to charge my eReader (usually more than a week), so even a ten hour plane journey is completely fine. I will not run out of reading material.

I like the physical books in theory more than practice. I miss the end papers of books, and getting them signed and so on, but I find it hard to hold a hardback these days (I trashed my wrists a while ago, and I have to live with my poor abused tendons and ligaments). I now tend to find it hard to remember to sort out a bookmark on those rare occasions where I've got a physical book. I do miss flicking backwards in books to remind myself of something. That's something ebooks can't quite replicate.

I like audiobooks, but only in certain specific situations, like where I can't read a book because I'd get travelsick (oh hi pendolino trains, I'm looking at you), or at night, to get me to sleep. And when walking around, though I tend to prefer audio dramas for that, because there's a bit more vocal variety.

I think the flicking back to remind myself of things is why I prefer paper books for non-fiction. Also, a lot of the non-fiction I read is the sort of thing that has maps in and paper books also allow me to flip back to the maps as needed.

I've never really got on with hardbacks, and actually one of the really good things about ebooks is being able to read books I'm excited about as soon as they're published without having to choose between buying a hardback that I'll find awkward to read and waiting for the paperback to come out. (Sometimes, I then buy the paperback later so I have a copy to re-read.)

(oh hi pendolino trains, I'm looking at you)

Last month I sat on the other side of a pendolino train (west/eft, heading northwards) for the first time and understood clearly why they made me travelsick, when from that position, unlike the otherwise, I could really see the angle that they go at. Which was extreme! On one side, view of fells, on the other, dirt. TL:DR I take stugeron.

95% of my reading these days is on the kindle. I actually like the physical experience of it more than books, especially big books. But also being able to carry thousands of books around with me, not needing to find storage space, being able to read in poot lighting and buying new books without leaving the house are all good too.

I have a similar problem with audiobooks. I do like them for long car journeys, but will generally pick a book I’ve already read so it doesn’t matter if I miss bits. I cannot listen to books with sex scenes though. I don’t mind reading them, but listening to them being read aloud is utterly cringe-making, for me.

I think part of my problem with audiobooks may come from years of driving with Radio 4 on and learning to be able to keep my focus on the road and not on the words. Though I may just always have had poor auditory processing. Things I've read before are easier (one of my favourite authors, Tansy Rayner Roberts, has a podcast where she reads her own work, but I can only listen to the stories I've already read in print) but that means audiobooks can only really be distractions and not a way of actually reading new things.

A lot of my reading is via ebooks lately. I tend to get physical copies of books I really love (or if it's not available as an ebook).

I like listening to audiobooks when I'm doing stuff like yardwork or folding laundry.

I like the idea of audiobooks for that kind of thing, but I find I get distracted and end up missing so much I can't follow the plot.

I do almost all of my 'new' reading in ebooks now; I am gradually adding a lot of my old favourites to my ereader, generally when they're on special offer. I have no intention of getting rid of the paper copies, but it's nice to know I have them wherever I am.

My 'new' (last year) Kobo lets me skip through a book much more easily; it's still not the same as on paper, but it's infinitely better than the old version. I prefer hard copy for non-fiction, especially anything with maps, but in the end the ease and portability of the ebook often wins out.

What I miss is the experience of bookshopping. The serendipity of finding something you really weren't expecting just isn't there with online bookstores, and my reading is probably narrower for it.

I suspect a newer kindle would making skipping (and footnotes, which are also a pain) easier than my current one, which I think is nine years old (it's the kind with buttons, though not a keyboard). Certainly the Kindle app on my phone has better skipping functionality, so I often use that if I want to check back on something I've already read.

I miss browsing in bookshops, especially second-hand bookshops.

I love all kinds of books. Ebooks are great for travelling and also for when you have to order from abroad. And when you're not sure you're going to want to keep this one. Paper books are great for flicking back, checking maps and stuff (and this is why a lot of nonfiction is easier for me on paper). Also I love a lot of paper books as physical objects. Audiobooks are great for cross-stitching and also for when my eyes get tired and I have a headache.

Edited 2021-01-23 21:00 (UTC)

Yes, I think the flicking is a big part of why I prefer nonfiction on paper. Also, the kindle renders illustrations very badly.

Despite the fact that I once did a seminar presentation on Ulysses and books as physical objects*, I generally don't care about books as physical objects. I don't like old book smell, don't care about history, unless they are family ones. But I really like them as extremely useful physical objects. I own a Kindle and find it very useful on holiday, when I want to read something on Gutenberg or downloaded fic, or can get a book cheap, but as technology, I prefer paperbacks. Nothing can outweigh the flickability.

*I really didn't want to do a joint presentation, options were running out, and I correctly assessed that (a) no-one else was likely to voluntarily pick Ulysses, and (b) there were probably extra marks for just going for it!

Paperbacks also don't run out of battery just as you get to an exciting bit (though I have a battery pack to deal with emergencies of that kind).

I probably read slightly more on the Kindle these days, but I tend to embrace both paper books and ebooks. Although I noticed an odd thing recently where I read two paper books in a row and then had a hankering to go back to the ebook. Also I find myself wanting to tap unfamiliar words to instantly find out dictionary definitions when I'm reading paper books. now. :/

It's just dreadful how hypertext doesn't work in oaoper biiks isn't it?! I find I'm also confused swapping from touch screen devices to non-touch screen....

My kindle isn't touchscreen which definitely makes navigation harder.

I sometimes miss the kindle when I've been reading paper books. Though mine is so old it doesn't have a touchscreen and I have to navigate down for dictionary definitions, often to find that in fact they're dialect words that aren't in the dictionary anyway...

I only like audio when I'm driving, then I like it very much. Otherwise, I read too fast, and get distracted when at home.

I like books, I like e-reading on my iPad. My hands are getting so bad that book reading takes some planning on where the weight needs to rest.

I would like to be able to listen to audiobooks while driving but I always get distracted by needing to brake and change gear and keep an eye on all the idiots on the road, and then I lose track of the narrative, so I can only listen to things I have already read. Which is good for comfort and distraction but no good as a format to explore new things.

True! I should have said long road trips. I wouldn't dare listen to an audio book while negotiating LA traffic!

Whereas I live in the UK where even motorway driving requires a fair amount of concentration because there is just so much more traffic around!

I like both paper books and my Kindle for exactly the reasons you give.

I discovered a while ago that an audio book helps me sleep if my head is full of worries at night; it drives out other thoughts. I listen on a genuine old Discman!

I listen to discussion podcasts to help me sleep, for exactly the same reason!

Audiobooks, like almost anything presented as audio, are too damn slow: my brains been somewhere else and back again so often I'll have lost the plot. (This also applies to presentations and training online--I love the faster speed buttons on YouTube--and I was the child in school who was reading pages ahead of what was going on in class.) I use Radio 4 as my background music, lullaby through the night, and tune in and out as it grabs my attention.

Kindle all the way for fiction. Increasing the text size is great, especially when tired and with increasingly middle-aged eyesight, and the portability, light weight and capacity are winners all round. I also find the I don't enjoy ageing paperbacks falling apert on me when I reread old favourites. Non-destructive annotations too (even if the Touch makes this a little tedious to achieve). Try before you buy is good too.

I feel guilty about buying cheap on the Kindle. But, I probably spend more on many cheap books than I would do on physical editions, it's maybe spread across more authors. And I do buy quite a few newly released novels at their full-for-Kindle price.

Craft books, non-fiction in general, mostly have to be physical copies.

But I love, love, love physical books. So, whilst we've culled at least once over the years and only moved c2500 this week (mostly not reshelved, yet), the book buying continues, mostly Folio Society, especially as it's moved into lovely editions of classic sf/f/h.

Poetry does not work ~~well~~ on a Kindle.

I used to have Radio 4 on all the time but in recent years I've drifted away from it, after stopping listening to The Archers because of Helen and Rob (and Nigel, really) and then giving up on the Today programme because the news was so ghastly. If I want background radio now it's often Radio 3 instead.

I do both/and. I don't think I have any actual preference for the act of reading, except for very thick books. (I would never have managed War and Peace without my Kobo.) I do prefer browsing and shopping for physical books - there's that lovely serendipity of finding something wonderful and unexpected in a charity shop or car boot sale or the library, which I've yet to replicate online. On the other hand, it's very convenient to be able to download vast quantities of Project Gutenberg/AO3 and take it on holiday with me.

A couple of times I have bought the ebook of something and followed it up with the physical edition - usually because there were maps or family trees or something else I wanted to be able to flick back to.

Audio books don't work for me. I find it very difficult to concentrate on more than one thing at once, and I can read much quicker than anyone can read to me.

Book shopping is the only in-person shopping I miss. Especially browsing in charity shops.

Nothing will ever replace real books for me- they are not a thing, they are a way of life!

I certainly wouldn't want to be without mine, even if I do read a lot on Kindle now!

I'm definitely a Kindle person these days. Various reasons - poor eyesight, weight, the fact you can (if necessary) read after lights out, and the fact that it's a lot less easy to skip - I have a very bad habit of looking to the end of the book to see what's going to happen, and it's less easy (although not impossible) to do that on a Kindle. But mainly because it's easier. I do still read some paper books, but not many.

I hate audiobooks - I have never enjoyed being read to from the moment I learnt to read to myself, so they do nothing for me. I dread going blind and being dependent on them!

I have the same skipping-to-the-end bad habit, and reading on kindle definitely helps with it. (Though sometimes I do it just because the book has got too tense and I can't enjoy it unless I know how it turns out!)

That too! I have been known to skip ahead on a Kindle for just that reason!

I prefer paper books for the same reason as you do, too. Being able to flip through to check back on things easily helps me digest the information better. Furthermore, non-fiction page number may be misleading on ereaders. For example, it may show as 500 pages, but the actual book material is 300 pages, with the rest being diagrams and the annex, etc. This is quite frustrating because I like to estimate reading length and having control.

On the other hand, ereaders are great for reading fics, borrowing ebooks from the library (it saved me many physical trips), and being able to carry a lot of books around. I love my kobo and wouldn't leave home without it.

Audiobooks are an absolute no go. It's quite inefficient, and I just can't process information via audio very well.

I've encountered the same problem with non-fiction ebooks, though it usually becomes obvious once I start flipping to the footnotes and back. More annoying is when fiction books have a sample of another book at the end and finish before you expect them to (although I have also had that problem with paper books, to be fair).

I got the kindle because I thought it would be good to be able to go on holiday without finishing all my books before the plane left the tarmac, and now I like it more than treeware. It's hard when the end comes early because they've put the preview of the next book in and not told me, but I love being able to change the typeface size. Anyway I think I'm just used to it now. Real books feel clunky.

Getting the kindle that survives being dropped in the bath was a big step forward too, albeit that I've actually never dropped my kindle but have dropped my phone.

I still love real books, but I think I read on the kindle much more. (And I've been caught out by the preview thing in paper books as well!)

I avoid the kindle because Amazon. I do have ebooks on the ios app because i’m not boycotting apple, but I’d rather read physical books mostly. As much as anything it comes down to what format do I have the book in or what can I find the book in. Joan Slonzewski’s books after Door Into Ocean are mostly to be found in ebook format and a number of Bujold books likewise easier to find on the apple Books app.

I don’t do audio books at all, have never really tried them as I prefer the other options. If I want to listen to something it will be music (preferably something I already know).

I like re-reading and so I already have most of my reading downstairs in the book cellar :-) If I’m travelling and need extra reading material I might use AO3 as backup, or just generally browse the internet.

If I was buying an ereader now I probably wouldn't go for a kindle, because Amazon, but having bought mine nine years ago or thereabouts I'm now firmly tied in and can't just switch to a Kobo or similar without losing all of my TBR pile (or at least, the bits of it I bought directly from Amazon - I quite often by .mobi books direct from the publisher, or via ebook bundles, which means they are transferrable). I don't much like reading on my phone - I find looking at a phone screen for too long makes my eyes go funny, but the e-ink reader is much more like reading an actual page.

I'm the same as you with audio.

I really love my kindle for convenience, but I like having the physical objects of paper books, for browsing and for lending.

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Saturday discussion post: book formats (23/365)

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