How do you read?

[MGMmjl]

Looking over the Annual Reading Challenge thread, I was interested in how people like to read their books. For me, I chose a combination of print book and e-book. I used to read exclusively print books, but over the past couple of years, and especially during the pandemic, I have read more e-books. I don't like audiobooks as I feel that I can't follow things as closely as I can when reading a book. My wife, on the other hand, is dyslexic, and she prefers audiobooks.

 

[wenrob]

Digital. I preferred things like cookbooks or books on photography, any kind of guide in physical form but I have since converted those to digital as well. I just like the convenience of getting them instantly and always having them with me. Audiobooks have never appealed to me.

All three of my kids like audiobooks which I find funny because they all also use subtitles with TV and movies. They all like a combo of all three in audio/physical/digital order.

 

[fla4fun]

I read print if I am reading at home during the daytime. I read ebooks when I travel, for convenience, or when reading in bed, since I can change the screen to black with white print so it is easier on the eyes at night. I would say it’s about a 50/50 mix. I get distracted too easily when listening so audiobooks are out for me.

 

[jo-jo]

Lately it's been more e-book than print. Print books are getting heavy to hold up while laying in bed or trying to eat lunch and turning page, so e-books are great . For light reading, meaning you could almost skip every other chapter and still know what's going on...I love audio books. At times I listen to a book every few days. Doing housework, I'm listening to a book.

But if it's something I need to study, I need to see the words and be able to flip pages back and forth. Flipping pages on E -books just isn't the same.

 

[shh]

Lately it's been more e-book than print. Print books are getting heavy to hold up while laying in bed or trying to eat lunch and turning page, so e-books are great .

I always insisted I'd never want ebooks - had to have the real thing. But I honestly LOVE it - it's nothing like a computer or tablet screen- the kindle paperwhites are wonderfully book-like and so comfortable to view and hold. It's heaven to hold something light instead of a bulky book - or not have to pack multiple books on a long vacation. Plus I can read in bed without disturbing my DH with a glaring light when he's trying to sleep. AND I can enlarge the text vs relying on glasses that may be older rx and not as strong as they need to be.

Ebooks are so easy to download from the library - I get them all for free. Now I'll never go back.

 

[Disneefun]

eBooks for most things like fiction or light non-fiction, but print for deeper topics like history, science, or medicine. It probably goes back to school days, that need to have a book in front of me if I'm "studying" something. Print also for anything with lots of graphics. I can't do audio. I just get too distracted and have to cycle back too often to make it work.

 

[scrhsa]

E-books kill my eyes and they just don't have that great book smell

 

[SaintsManiac]

I love all forms of books equally!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If I'm going to "read a book", I want a book in hand.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

I prefer e-books, They're lighter and easier to read in bed. For studying (which I'm done with) I prefer print. Audiobooks are my least favorite, maybe if I'm on a long drive.

 

[billlaurie]

I go back and forth but right now I am leaning heavily toward print. I have never done an audiobook.

 

[Elle23]

I almost exclusively read books on the kindle app on my iPhone, including my daily Bible reading. Books feel so clunky and unwieldy to me now that I have a hard time with them.

I do have a few books that I don’t have in digital form I still read, but if it’s on my kindle app, I use that.

 

[amylevan]

E-books.
I no longer have to worry about the piles of books gathering dust and shoving them in book cases. It’s wonderful and instantaneous, I’m bored, it’s 10 o’clock at night...I can buy a book!
Plus I’m saving trees.

 

[AMW86]

I prefer to read print books, but I read ebooks when I travel so I don't have to lug around multiple books. And if a ebook is substantially cheaper than the print book, I will often buy the ebook

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Ebooks. I’ve gone to all digital media. Print books are heavy and they take up a ton of space and then hauling them to the library to donate them was always a chore. I do have a very select few books that I’ve kept but physical book purchases are now limited to art.

 

[Lumpy1106]

It took me a while to get used to it, but I'm 100% e-books now. I really had no idea what to do with the books once I was done reading them so I always leaned heavily toward getting books from the library. You can do the same thing with e-books, though the selection is not very good. Love being able to jump on Amazon and get books instantly if I really want one though.

 

[Searc]

I tried ebooks and they are not for me. Hated everything about them. Print books all the way. I read books to read, not have them read to me.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I still love reading real books and I never thought I would enjoy e-books but I had to get rid of all my books when I got divorced because I didn't have space. It crushed me to part with my carefully cultivated collection of hard to find out-of-print and ARC books by my favorite authors, and books that were special to me because I had lent them out to librarian friends who had written in the margins. And I'm the kind of person who can enjoy reading my favorite stories over and over again, every time it's like getting reacquainted with an old friend!

Now I find that I love reading on my phone or kindle, the immediate gratification is kind of addictive, and I hate to admit this but there have been a few times that I was reading a real book and I realized I was absentmindedly tapping the edge of the page trying to get it to turn So I guess I'm a convert.

 

[ashley0139]

I'll do either - it doesn't matter to me. When traveling I like e-books since you don't have to bring multiple physical books. I do not like audiobooks though.

 

[emer95]

I’ve always been 100% against ebooks, but I was really hurting during quarantine. I love the library and I go once a week. Some of you are convincing me to at least give them a try.
Other than print books, I love audiobooks for when I’m exercising, cleaning, weeding, etc. Listening to a book has actually made me look forward to doing chores.