Saturday discussion post: book formats (23/365)

[white_hart]

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?

Comments

[girlyswot]

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.

[white_hart]

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.