How do you read?

[AsatruDruid]

So It's been a while since I've posted topics on here almost 2 years, so here's my opener.

What is your preferred method of ready? Hard copy, paper back, pdf, e-Reader.

I was thinking about picking up one of those Amazon Kindle (the new fire), this coming holiday season, I see amazon has allot of the books I like to read for around 3 bucks. Was wondering other peoples preferred methods of reading their books, and if anyone has or had an e-reader and whether they are truly like reading a regular book, or convenient enough to make up for whatever they lack in physical copies.

[Amelia-Mary]

Re: How do you read?

I really like paperbacks, they're a lot more portable and take up less room, I absolutely cannot stand e-readers, they burn my eyes as I'm reading after like half an hour, I like to read for hours at a time before taking a break to move slightly, maybe pee if I drank a lot before hand lol

[Bjorn]

Re: How do you read?

One page at a time.

Doesn't matter if it's hardback or paperback. It's got to be a REAL book.

[Monk]

Re: How do you read?

One page at a time.

Doesn't matter if it's hardback or paperback. It's got to be a REAL book.

This is the only way for me. I want to physically turn the pages and when I drop it on the floor have to find the page I was on as well as the bookmark.

Oh and I want to stumble across it at some old book store while perusing the shelf's.

[DanieMarie]

Re: How do you read?

I used to feel it had to be a real book, until I bought an iPad. Now I do still like real books but it depends what it is. Anything public domain is free in ebook format, so if it's public domain, I get it as an ebook and read it on the iPad, unless it's some beautiful hardcover edition I find somewhere. Also comic books, English magazines and that sort of thing are so, so, so much cheaper than buying in real copy (a British copy of Glamour costs 7 Euros here. It's 2.50 or something like that on Zinio...no contest) and newspapers are also just cheaper and easier access. Plus those are things I'd recycle anyway and not keep, and it's just way 'greener' to read them on the iPad, plus creates less clutter in my place.
Other iPad stuff is all the PDFs I have to read for university, so then I don't have to print them out and also I can carry them around with me without having to lug a ton of stuff around. This includes the course guides I get that replace the lectures. They send them to me in book form but I just download the PDFs. There's an app that lets me highlight things and make notes.
Other academic articles I download in PDF form out of interest go on the iPad.
Textbooks unfortunately only come in paper copy, but if they would give me a PDF of it with my book, I'd prefer that...then I could just have everything on one device and when I go to London to write exams, I could just take that.

I do still like books, and still buy them, just fewer of them. I tend to mostly buy the ones I think I'll want to keep or are on sale now. It just keeps stuff from building up and accumulating in my apartment. If I'm not going to keep it, what's the point in having a physical copy anyway? It will just take up space to shelve it until I read it (I almost NEVER read books immediately after I buy them), takes fuel to ship to me, or to the book store (depending on if I buy it on Amazon or in a shop), etc. If I will keep it, then it's nice to have. I also do buy more newer titles in physical form because ebooks just aren't cheap enough yet and books are cheap in Germany. I'm not going to buy an ebook for 7.99 when the real book is 8 Euros (or cheaper, because Amazon is awesome). It's the same reason I don't buy used books. New books are really cheap here but used books often cost like 5 Euros.

[Ophidia]

Re: How do you read?

One page at a time.

Doesn't matter if it's hardback or paperback. It's got to be a REAL book.

Ditto to this. There is something about the heft of a good book in your hands, the scent, the satisfaction of the pages moving from one cover to the other. Some books are made with unique paper, with all sorts of different textures.

I like to read while I'm in the tub, too - and you can't do that w/an e-reader. Not to mention making margin notes.

[thalassa]

Re: How do you read?

It depends. I started buying paperbacks on kindle, and I just read them on my laptop....it saves trees and money (by not buying an e-reader). Reference books or keepers by fave authors, a must be in real book form.

[FantasyWitch]

Re: How do you read?

I like it as long as it's a book. I don't like kindle's and electronic books as they take away from the real thing. I love the aesthetic feel of a real book. The smell and feel etc. It can't be beaten by electronic versions as far as I'm concerned. It would be a sad day if books stopped being published on paper x

[Ophidia]

Re: How do you read?

It depends. I started buying paperbacks on kindle, and I just read them on my laptop....it saves trees and money (by not buying an e-reader). Reference books or keepers by fave authors, a must be in real book form.

I only buy used books If I want to read something new, I go to the library.

[Clive]

Re: How do you read?

I only buy used books If I want to read something new, I go to the library.

Ditto. Granted, a lot of people steal from my local library (to the extent that they don't even charge late fees anymore) so some things can't be found, but I definitely prefer an actual book to an electronic one. I have this funny habit of occasionally checking how many more pages I have left and holding the pages I've read together to see how much "thickness" I've read. Can't do that with an e-book.

I can't imagine a world where bookstores and libraries (the kind you have to actually leave your house and be near other people to visit) are obsolete. There's something, if you'll pardon the cheese, magical about perusing a bookshelf, not sure what you're looking for but when you find it there's that moment of "Oh yes, I have to have this!" The satisfaction of buying or checking out a book and the excitement of taking it home (or wherever) to read it cannot be gotten from an e-book.