Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
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Finding the "right" book format
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I prefer an ebook for longer reads especially if I’m not super into them at first because I feel like I’m making progress where the pages are so short. With books that have a lot of pictures or other extra textual stuff I prefer hard copy. Other than that I am not too picky except that I hate audiobooks. Sorry lol
I’m the opposite of you lol. Not a fan of paperbacks at all since the advent of ebooks. They hurt my hands trying to hold them open. The writing is small.I do love a good hardback if it’s a favorite author or series. But to answer your actual question- no I don’t find formatting affects my enjoyment much. The only notable exception being books with illustrations. I definitely wouldn’t be happy with an ebook in that scenario.
I'm not incredibly picky. I usually have 1 or 2 audio books, ebooks, and physical books going at once. I notice I try to pick audio books with simple plotlines or books I am not sure I'll enjoy, just because I pay better attention and usually enjoy books more when I actually read them. A Song of Ice and Fire should be read on ebook. I have the first 2 in paperback and the last 3 on ibooks. Reason being, I highlight and make notes all over the place, and in the ebooks I can look up parts so easily when I'm having a discussion about it with other people.
I love audiobooks. Not over other form of books but I seriously love audiobooks. My house is so much cleaner when I am listening to an audiobook I love because I'm like... "hey, I can listen to a few more minutes if I clean the toilets." I'm listening to one of the Outlander books right now (left over from 800+ page book from last year... and I can't get into it... Over halfway through and whenever i think about listening to it I think, "I can do something else instead." My house is really suffering for it. I need to finish it soon because I really want to listen to an audiobook I love... I know, I could DNF it. I could. But I've listened to like 20 hours so far. I'm too far to go back now.
I almost always read on kindle because I flip between books and because overdrive checks the books back in for you... and I can't be trusted with a real library card.
But there was a book I really wanted that ebook was super expensive and they had used copies really cheap on amazon. I bought a hardback and I've really enjoyed being able to turn pages. Maybe I'll read another physical book sometime soon. It has been a long time.
I listen to podcasts so maybe that’s part of why I haven’t gotten into audiobooks but I cannot focus on them! I listened to one for the challenge last year and ended up listening to it sped up to get it over with lol
I just get whichever is cheaper on amazon
I like both physical and ebooks, I’m not fussy as long as it’s not an audio, they send me to sleep lol
The closest I have to this is that now occasionally when I'm reading non-fiction in a physical book form I miss the ability to just highlight a quote to save it for later. In general, paperbacks are my favorite for the reading experience and e-books are my favorite for the convenience, but I pretty much take whatever I can get. (Hardbacks can be too heavy if it's a big book, but one of my recent library books was a hardback, and it was small/short enough that I hardly even noticed the difference.)
(Edited to add: I also listen to audiobooks, but I process visually better than audially, so I mostly listen to them while I'm doing chores around the house. I slightly prefer non-fiction to fiction in an audiobook, but I've done both. )
I basically only do audio and ebooks these days. I tend to prefer non-fic and YA as audiobooks, but I’ve been branching out into other fiction and enjoying it. I read the first paper book in years recently - it was fine but it’s so much more work to remember to carry it around so I can read it when the opportunity presents itself and I find that annoying.
Yeah, I get this. I tend to use my Kindle for childrens'/YA fiction, nonfiction, and contemporary, as well as more obscure books or things I'm just not sure I'm going to enjoy, since ebooks are so cheap I feel like even if I dislike something it's worth 99p, and finding physical copies of obscure stuff can be difficult and/or expensive. And anything which has a not-so-nice cover goes on the Kindle too since that way I don't have to look at it. :pI also love Kindle because there are so many out-of-print texts being released as ebooks - for example, the wonderful Sword at Sunset, The Fox and The Hound, and many of Ursula le Guin's books.
Most things, though, I still have to read in physical copy. I tend to find that there's something about actually holding and interacting with a paperback or hardcover which makes the story stick in my mind more. Plus anything with illustrations or photos has to be physical since Kindle is frankly useless in that department.
The only time I'm really picky about the format for a particular book is if it's a book where the reader has to engage in the text or pages in a non-traditional way - pictures, non-linear text, 2-page spreads, etc (ex: Illuminae). In those cases I need the physical copy (whether paperback or hardcover). There are also some books where I like to read the physical copy because it's easier to reference information previous written (say in a mystery or a really detailed story).Otherwise it's not so much the particular book as where I'm reading it that determines my preferred format: ebooks/paperbacks under 500 pages when commuting, hardcover or larger books at home, audio books on long car rides.
Heather wrote: "Does anyone else feel strongly about the format that you read a particular book in? Not in general, as in you prefer print or ebooks, but specific books. There are some books I feel like I really, ..."It's so interesting that you asked this, just after I learned about the differences in paperbacks! I mean, I always knew that there were the small, older style paper backs of my childhood. (I think those are the ones you're talking about, that you can roll back the cover and read with one hand... and maybe take into the bathtub with you. The ones that would double in size if you accidentally dropped them in).
And then the new ones came out, that are more the size of a hardback, and the prices seemed to shoot up with those.
I was recently book shopping for gifts and saw that Amazon offers Paperbacks and Mass Market Paperbacks. I Googled to see the difference and found answers like this:
The "paperback" formats have a larger page size, similar to the hardcover versions - 6"x9". The "mass market paperback" have typical small 4"x7" pages. The mass market have more pages since the pages are smaller. For example, A Game of Thrones - mass market paperback 831 pages, regular paperback 704 pages. "Paperbacks" are usually considered "superior" to the mass market.
Mass Market paper is thinner and cheaper than the "Trade Paperbacks" (the hardcover-sized ones), too.
The "Mass Market" is considered to be places like stationery, grocery stores, etc.
For me, I always try to find a book on audio (on Overdrive) first, so I can knit or crochet while I listen. If I can't find it in audio, I'll try for an ebook. I've got the LA Public Library, the County of LA, and Southern Calif. library systems to choose from on Overdrive. They don't always have the same titles available. I've asked them to purchase a few titles, and they usually buy them and tell me when they're in! It's so easy! And renewing is easy if there's no wait list for your book. But I only do Overdrive on my laptop, at home, so I'll usually have another title in paperback in my purse.
I also check out my two local libraries (two different library systems) and will get books on CD when I find titles I like. I love that I can place a hold online and have any book in the Los Angeles Library dropped off at my local branch for pickup! (The advantage over Overdrive is that I can keep it a few extra days and just pay them a late fee. I never mind giving my library a little money).
I forget to charge my old Kindle, and don't have many books on it, so that's my last choice.
Mod
yes! sometimes it's an "I Know it when I see it" situation, but other times I have a particular reason for wanting a certain format. For romances, I like paperbacks. I don't know why, exactly, I think I'm just used to it. Other than that, I don't have a strong paperback vs hard cover preference for books when I read a paper copy. For books that I think I will find really interesting (like non-fiction books about subjects I'm into, or fiction by an author I know I love), I like Kindle, because I can highlight all the good passages and then easily go back and copy/paste them. For thrillers and adventure books and the less serious mysteries, I like audiobooks. For long classics, I like audiobook, because somehow it's easier to get through a REALLY long book when I'm listening to it. With memoirs, it depends on whose memoir it is if I want audiobook or Kindle or paper book. For comic books, I'm partial to paper copies of the graphic novel, and I prefer soft cover to hardcover, but I'm learning to enjoy e-comics too (still, I prefer paper to electronic). For YA fantasy, I like e-books, because that's the kind of book I like to read in all the "pockets" of the day, like waiting in my car to pick up my daughter, waiting in a dr's office, lunchtime in my office, etc, and I can read an e-book on my phone.
But none of those are really super strong preferences - if I can only get a book in one format, that's okay, that's the format I read.
Ok after seeing how many people listen to audiobooks I’ve decided to give them another try!! Maybe I’ll listen when I’m doing the housework, worth a shot!
Discovering all the different formats I could get books in has honestly changed my life! I have very bad carpal tunnel syndrome which means that holding physical books (even skinny paperbacks) is just not possible for me sometimes, and it can hurt a lot if I do it for too long at a time. My university bought me a kindle so I could do more reading on that and it changed everything for me. Because I can sync it to read the same book on my kindle, on my phone and on a computer I can switch reading positions all the time, and I only have to have one finger free to change pages. The only things I wouldn't use it for are things with lots of illustrations or things where it's important that you see things in colour as my kindle has a black and white screen. I also listen to an awful lot of audiobooks (I can have headphones on at my job so I can plough through them very fast with eight hour workdays), though I prefer audiobooks for ficiton and things that I don't think I'm likely to want to quote or reread as I can't really imagine looking through an audiobook to find a certain passage. I also prefer to read longer books as audiobooks because it makes it more cost effective for me.
I do still read physical books sometimes - I still think they're gorgeous and the most important thing that I don't think ebooks or audiobooks can give me is the experience of wandering through a bookshop looking at what's new, what's on the displays, something catching my eye and buying it on a whim. I also give and receive books as presents an awful lot and I wouldn't want that to become electronic. Now I'm not studying anymore I can read physical books sometimes if my hands are feeling good but I would rather not do it for something really long, and I might have to prop it up on a bookstand if it's heavy.
Loving reading can be a real challenge when it hurts me so much a lot of the time but I'm getting quite good at working round it!
Brandy wrote: "I love audiobooks. Not over other form of books but I seriously love audiobooks. My house is so much cleaner when I am listening to an audiobook I love because I'm like... "hey, I can listen to a f..."I have the same problem. If I'm not enjoying my audiobook, the housework doesn't get done.
Perhaps you could switch to print and see if that goes better?
I'm so spoiled by ebooks now, I really don't enjoy print anymore. But sometimes when I feel low, it's comforting to hold a book instead of an ereader.
This has been an interesting discussion to follow. I don't have general preferences. I like ebooks, paperbacks, and hardbacks equally. The one I choose to read depends on which one "feels right" for a particular book. I get really stubborn about it sometimes too. The book I was referring to in my first post is Artemis. I was so excited to read this book, but I just could not get into it. Reading the paperback was an awful experience. It was so uncomfortable to hold, the pages felt weird to turn, and on and on. After some research, I discovered the book was a UK trade paperback, which is very different from a US trade paperback, hence my confusion when I ordered online. I bought the ebook and started reading from the beginning on my Kindle. It's been great! I'm about 50% in and I love the book so far.
E-books all the way. Especially since I can get my library books on there. I love to be able to read while my husband sleeps and I don't need a light on. Plus its easy to read one handed. And I can read outside too. My kindle is always in my purse so I can whip it out during lunch break (when co-workers don't interrupt my lunch). Can you tell I love my kindle?
I'm kind of amused to discover that I'm not the only one who likes e-books for after my husband turns out the lights to go to sleep. :-) I *try* not to use screens late, but if the lights are out and I can't fall asleep (I have mild insomnia problems, which is a huge improvement over the major insomnia problems I used to have) I'd much rather read than just lie there until my brain finds something to stress over.
I second the Kindle Paper White love for all the same reasons. I read in bed and don't disturb my husband, there is no glare in sunlight, and I can adjust the brightness of the screen. Plus if I happen to finish one book while I am out of the house, no big deal, I have lots more.
I got the kindle paperwhite for Christmas off my husband (I think he wanted the light off when he was sleeping lol) hands down the best present I’ve ever received I absolutely love it!! I had the fire first and hated it, it’s just not practical for reading, saying that it’s a brilliant tablet for a child, my son loves his.
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Artemis (other topics)Illuminae (other topics)
Sword at Sunset (other topics)
The Fox and the Hound (other topics)
I started reading a book this weekend that I just can't get into. I'm really excited about the book, but I swear the format is throwing off the experience. I wanted to read it in paperback, but I ordered it online and didn't realize it was the large, stiff cover kind of paperback that's more like a quasi-hardback than a curl-back-the-cover paperback. I'm not happy with the way the book feels in my hands at all, and I think it's spoiling what is a really good story. I wonder if I'd like it better as an ebook ...
Anyone else super picky about their book formats?