Shelfari, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Booklikes, Scribd.
Kindle, Nook, Kobo…
The world is changing towards a more technology oriented perspective on arts. This is not something new. It’s becoming a fact.
People spend more time using technology, more time on the web, more time using social media, so it makes sense that they’d spend more and more time reading in a similar manner.
Reading paperbacks and hardcovers has become an old school thing. People read e-books, listen to audio-books, post reviews on blogs.
This element makes it easier. It’s more comfortable.
But is it necessarily better?
Imagine driving your car while listening to an audio-book. Imagine spending 8+ hours staring at a screen.
Now, what I’m really trying to say it, that spending quality time by yourself, getting fully emerged in the story as it unfolds, suspending disbelief, all those things require a certain level of engagement.
For these reasons, I’m not sure. For these reasons, I still prefer reading paperbacks. Sitting on my chair, utter silence, nothing but the words on paper to keep me company.
No distractions, no screens, nothing…
You can even call me old fashioned, and at this very moment, it’s probably just a thing of personal preference.
What is your opinion? Paperbacks or e-books? Old or new? Which one do you prefer? And why?
It depends on the book… if it’s an easy going romance I prefer ebooks if it’s a more serious book from which I want to learn something I prefer paper back so I can takes notes and mark important pages… 🍀
Books!! I get tired of my head on a screen the entire time…
Books are more than their words: they’re the smell of dust; the weight in your hands; the whispering of pages turned; the creaking spine traced by a restless finger. Books will always be better than screens. That said, there are benefits to e-books. You use less space to carry more books wherever you travel. You don’t need a light to see a screen and you don’t have to fret away impatient hours, waiting for your book to arrive.
I will go on both… It depends on where am going to read the books…
More to books than ebooks. I can’t sit for hours facing the laptop/phone screen. Books give me the comfort of sitting in a corner with a cup of tea to enjoy the day. It gives me eye strain when on a laptop.
I usually prefer physical books over ebooks, but I have a small collection of ebooks that are mostly either public domain classics, books that’d be hard to find in physical form, or classics that were on sale. But there are some books on my bucket list that I’d rather have in physical form (like Slaughterhouse-Five or One Hundred Years of Solitude) because I feel the *need* to hold those books in my hands.
I read all sorts of news online, email newsletters, blogs, etc., but when it comes to reading books I always read them in print. Reading a book is more relaxing, more engaging and separates you from the perpetual interruptions that occur on personal screens.
I do both, although I find ebooks to be easier to like “carry” and not require any light. BUt depends on the mood, I guess.
I am still old-school. A novel on a screen is so unappealing!
I personally like both forms, but in different occassions. For example, when I wish to relax or before I go to sleep, a paperback is a typical and much-prefered choice, while when I’m on the road, or I wish to read things my friends, aqcuaintances and favourite bloggers write, I use my laptop. I honestly just believe that it’s a matter of circumstance.
I love to read books any way I can get them. 🙂
I love listening to audiobooks! All day…walking…working…whatever. If it is a good book then I buy in paper…which is why I own about 50,000 books! They are so good!
Paper back… no distraction!
Books are one of the few escapes from a screen that we have. You don’t absorb information from an ebook in the same way as a paperback.
Definitely books. I prefer reading hardbacks. I’m developing eye problems due to looking at computer and phone screens too much.
I prefer physical books as well, though I do a lot of reading on tablets too for various reasons.
I loved my paperbacks and never thought I’d like a kindle. However a growing family reduced available space for storing books and my paperwhite means I can read at night without disturbing my husband. I coudln’t live without it now.
It took a while for me to come over to tech reading. When I did I first found one benefit for me personally, I could enlarge the font to what is comfortable. This made it so I could read more now that my eyes are no longer as good as they once were.
Then came space. I had books everywhere around my apartment. Bookcases full. Stacks on the floor around the bookcases. It didn’t help that I once worked for a bookstore and was able to get many books there for a discount.
As for the distractions, when I do read it is from a Kindle that has no other interface with the internet except for downloading the books. This way it is much like a book. The screen isn’t like looking a phone or computer screen. It is comfortable.
Still, I miss the scent of reading an old book or the feel of the pages as I hold them and turn them. The intimacy of loving the book. Tech reading is sort of cold, like not experiencing the soul of the book while reading it. Like when I worked in the bookstore or frequently visited bookstores and libraries. I would wander up and down the aisles, often never touching a book but loving them all just by being among them.
Depends on many factors, but when possible would nearly always choose a paperback.
Since running out of room for paperbacks I’ve had to switch to eBooks, and I don’t know that I could go back. I destroyed waaay too many books by carrying them around in my bag, which I can’t do with an eBook