SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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Ebooks or hardcopy?
Hi there!I still prefer physical books. I don't want to sound like a weirdo but I like to hold an actual book and the aroma of the paper. It helps me get more immersed. Hardcover depending on the cost. Paperback if that's what's available. As long as the covers match. OCD kicks in hard if they don't.
Some ebook sales are hard to pass up though.
I like having a nice organized bookshelf will all my fantasy tomes on display.
I like both to read but i don't have the room for more paper books. But the local library's e-book collection for SFF is pretty terrible.
I gravitate towards kindle books since my eyesight has changed. With ebooks I can manipulate the font. But if it's a book that I love, I also buy the hardcopy.
I like both. Ebooks take up less space so in the last ten or so years I have gone more with ebooks. I do still prefer holding a physical book and reading it, space just doesn’t allow for them.
with ebooks, I don't have to clear out older books to make space for new books on my shelveswith ebooks, I can carry hundreds of them with me when I go on vacations or on work related trips which makes more room for other types of purchases in my luggage
with ebooks, if my house is burning down, I don't worry because all my books are stored online and redownloadable
with ebooks, if I don't know a word, I just select it and a definition pops up. On some devices, a translation dictionary or translation function is available
with ebooks, if the book is long, it doesn't put undue strain on my hands/arms/fingers holding it up to read. Those large paperback are terrible and actually hurt to read sometimes
However, for cookbooks and art books and poetry, hardcopy is definitely preferable
Mod
I read way too much to be limited to hardcopy.
I prefer ebooks. I can instantly look up unfamiliar words, they cost less, they take up less space, they have a lot more deals.That being said, I'm currently reading a paperback copy of Jurassic Park. It's so beat up, the back cover is mostly missing. I enjoy it, but I will admit to tapping a page instead of turning it a time or two.
My sentiments are almost exactly the same as CBRetreiver with the addition that if a book is particularly well loved I do like a first edition hardback as a collectable, preferably signed.
and I forgot:with ebooks from Amazon, a lot of them have xray which allows you to select and look up information on certain characters/places/etc. This is very useful in books with lots of characters (Jordan and Tolkien for example). It will tell you who the characters is and have links to where they appear in a book
I like the idea of paper copies, but space is a serious issue here - as is portability, so e-books win every time.
CBRetriever wrote: "and I forgot:with ebooks from Amazon, a lot of them have xray which allows you to select and look up information on certain characters/places/etc. This is very useful in books with lots of charac..."
Yes, X-ray for my failing memory, font size and lighting for my failing eyesight.
Got to admit ebooks don’t have that evocative aroma that can only be found in a good bookstore.
I prefer hard copy, but ebooks have major convenience advantages.
The main advantage of ebooks is transportability and compactness. My own bookshelves are jam-packed and, if I want to buy a new book, I end up having to throw away or store away another book. As well, I could travel away from home and still have my library with me. When it comes to self-published authors, the costs for publishing online rather than in print are so much lower, which allows SPAs to offer their ebooks at very low price compared to paperbacks and hardcovers.
I like the look and feel of physical books, I love buying and owning them, there’s just something right about a physical book, however….. In reality I do all of my reading as e-books or audio, it’s just so convenient and accessible, I even find myself reading e-book versions of books I own in physical format.
Ebooks are nice for the changeable font size, instant dictionary, and ability to easily look up names. They are also often cheaper than a print edition. It's always nice when a book that's difficult or prohibitively expensive to obtain in print is available for a few bucks as an ebook. It's also my preferred format for "junk reading" - books that I expect to read exactly once.I prefer hard copy almost all the time, for a few reasons. There's a satisfying feeling seeing the bookmark make its progress through the book, and real pleasure in having the heft of it in my hand. Coffee table books are infinitely preferable in print, whether owned or from the library. Off topic : (view spoiler) I'm moving towards an ideal library of a few shelves of books that are signed, have memories associated with them, or that I intend to reread in the next few years. Increasing age does make books with smaller print a bit of a hassle
ebooks for the reasons @CBRetriever outlines plus one other. If I see a reference to a book and it sounds interesting, I can get it right then. It's 11pm? Not a problem, the library or bookstore is always open.
Michelle wrote: "I gravitate towards kindle books since my eyesight has changed. With ebooks I can manipulate the font. But if it's a book that I love, I also buy the hardcopy."This is me exactly! I have also taken to borrowing most of my books from the library electronically. When the library was closed for Covid, this became necessary, and now I prefer it. I can get audiobooks, comics and novels this way.
I do collect physical books, and have a LOT of them, but only books I know I will reread, by certain authors, or beautiful editions. By no means, every book I read.
I like ebooks but still don't entirely trust them ... or rather, don't entirely trust their suppliers to maintain my access to them. So if an ebook turns out to be one I really want to own, I'll usually try to obtain a hardcopy as backup.
I do like the Ebooks specifically because I can change the font size. But I do keep a few hardbacks for sentimental reasons, signed or gifts from friends. Even then I buy a copy through Ebook so I can read it comfortably.
I personally have to read hard copies to stay interested in the item. I find that "Out of sight, out of mind" is painfully true for me. I will also do audiobooks, as that's something I can listen to during my 30 min trips to and from work.I like the availability of Ebooks, however. It's very convenient to have them with you at all times, whether it be on a phone or on a tablet.
I love books. In all formats. I love dead-tree books for the physicality, collectibility and nostalgia. Ebooks for all the reasons CBR noted. And audiobooks because they allow me to read more books while doing other (more mindless) activities. That last especially. The past year I’ve read audio books about 6:1 to print (ebooks or paper) each month.
DivaDiane wrote: "And audiobooks because they allow me to read more books while doing other (more mindless) activities. ."I don't do audio books very often as I'm usually reading plus watching something on TV or listening to music
I stupidly left one of my favourite books on a plane the other day. I'll never get another hard copy so was very happy to get a kindle version.Still kicking myself though...
I get hard copies of my very favorites but e-books take up far less space.
MadProfessah wrote: "I get hard copies of my very favorites but e-books take up far less space."that and the need for packing them up and moving them was my husband's number one reason for persuading me to spend almost $400 USD to purchase a 2nd Gen Kindle back in 2010.
I read print books almost exclusively. I like hardcovers because of the way they look on shelves (the "show-off" effect), but I buy mostly paperback now because of cost. Some of the preference for print is due to reasons others have cited: feel and appearance. The primary reason, though, is that I spend too much time staring at a computer or phone screen. For me, reading is relaxation and escape and I want to keep it different.
Ebooks or hardcopy? The answer is audiobooks! I went from hardback to audio, skipped ebooks entirely, and have never looked back. You never have to look in order to read audiobooks. You do other things, especially drive, walk, bike, or eat, and a good narrator just adds to the enjoyment. These days, 99.9% of my reading is done using my ears while my eyes, hands, feet, nose and mouth are otherwise occupied. After all, it is our brains that actually read, i.e., interpret what we see, touch, or hear!
I'm stubbornly wedded to print books, despite all the advantages of ebooks. Audio, I can't handle because I'm too easily distracted. Miss a paragraph and poof! I'm lost. I have several ebooks but the only one I've ever finished is All Systems Red and that was after reading the hard copy. For some reason, ebooks are easy to put down. Hard copies sit on your nightstand and haunt you until you finish them! But how often have I wished I could tap a word and find what it means!
That's a good point about ebooks being easier to lose track of. Happens to me all the time.
I tried an audio book decades ago when they still came on tapes. It was a sequel to Willow, yet I must have restarted it a dozen times because I could never pay attention. With all the added distractions from smartphones alone, I know audiobooks and I will never be friends. A pity too, it would have been like an old radio program, and interesting from that point of view.
Ebooks! I read on several devices. If I don't feel like lugging around my ereader, I will read on smartphone. Lately, though, reading SF&F, I have purchased a few hardcovers. Following a plotline in HC is so much easier than in Ebooks.
Another vote for eBooks here, for all the reasons already outlined. I went digital more than 10 years ago, don't want to calculate how huge my bookshelf would have to be today to keep everything I have read since then.
Another advantage not yet mentioned is that it is easy for publishers to re-publish obscure Science Fiction (or other) books from 50 years ago, as no printing etc. is required, just a re-formatting of the existing text. Also, some publishing houses (e.g. Tor) offer affordable (sometimes even free) collections of short stories from new authors in the format.
There's also gutenberg.org, which makes books that are definitively out of copyright available for the low price of nothing. In many cases, it's archived and made available to all, texts that wouldn't sell a single copy (and are therefore of no interest to platforms that are solely interested in profit), but could be useful for academics.
Ebooks. For all of the reasons mentioned.I'm on a crusade to get as many people as I can to sign up for library cards because my library system is AMAZING for ebooks. If my local system (SAILS) doesn't have it, my SAILS card gets me access to seven other area systems including Boston. If none of those networks have it as an ebook, I will request a print copy from the library.
I decided a few years back not to buy any more books unless I have literally zero other option. There are so many books to read that I can always find something I want through the library ebook system. If I want to reread it, I'll just borrow it again.
And being able to access it on my Kindle, my phone or my work computer is amazing. (Listen. sometimes my late shifts are really boring. That is prime reading time. lol)
I'm so with you Kristin! When I moved to Germany in the early 90's it was slim pickings with books in English at bookstores and while I can read in German and do, it wasn't the relaxing thing I was craving. When Amazon came to Germany (in 1997? maybe?) and the exchange rate was really good in Germany's favor and they didn't charge for shipping on any books (which was pretty much all they sold back then), I kinda went wild. Now my shelves are full of those books I bought then plus books that were gifted to me when friends moved away from Germany and books I bought on trips to the USA. I didn't become friendly with ebooks or audiobooks until about 2006 and then in about 2014 I decided I was not going to buy hard copy books anymore. I also tried to only buy discounted or free ebooks, but now the number of ebooks is daunting! But who cares? It doesn't take up any space, except on some server somewhere. Now that I live in an English speaking country again (the UK) I try to use my library as much as possible, but I'm pretty much out in the sticks, so I'm dependent on friendly book lovers who have gotten me library cards in the States (you know who you are!) for the books that are harder to come by.
Kristin B. wrote: "Ebooks. For all of the reasons mentioned.I'm on a crusade to get as many people as I can to sign up for library cards because my library system is AMAZING for ebooks. If my local system (SAILS) d..."
You're so lucky! I have a hard time with ebooks at my city library. They have some, but not a lot. Now they've gone to hoopla. I would be really happy about it, but it seems as if hoopla has more audiobooks than ebooks. And I'm very picky, so the ebooks they have don't interest me. I just can't enjoy audiobooks- I've tried. They really don't work for everyone, I suppose.
I mostly read hard copies. I do read ebooks when that’s the only format I can find books in but usually it’s normal dead tree books. Reading off a screen makes me tired and if I read two books in a row on my iPad I can’t read for a week at least. Yeah I’m weird. Don’t want a Kindle though. I get ebooks from my library (I’m a member of 3) or wherever else I can find them.
I can read dead tree books all the time and they don’t affect me. I love the feel and the smell and I have heaps between my two houses. Since I started reading again at the end of 2017 I have filled 4 bookcases (that doesn’t include the many boxes I have from before I started reading again that followed me around every time we moved) and have piles all over the place and I still buy more. Bought a huge bag full on Thursday at the local Book Fair. They were between $1 and $3 and I spent $41. Id spent $33 on Sea of Tranquillity the day before. Yeahhhh And that was after I bought about 8 new releases in the past few weeks when I went to the city shopping.
I had a look at the books I’ve finished so far in 2022. In every case but one I remembered the format I read. The numbers came to 80% hard copy, 20% ebook (or very close to that.)
CBRetriever wrote: "and I forgot:with ebooks from Amazon, a lot of them have xray which allows you to select and look up information on certain characters/places/etc. This is very useful in books with lots of charac..."
Agree with this and all that CBRetriever said before but add that libraries are offering more digital assets than physical. Just saw a stat that the Phoenix main library offers almost 3 times more digital than physical. Granted this includes movies, television, comics, music, ebooks and audio but I count that as a plus.
Have been trading paperbacks/hardbacks at my used book store and used to get a few new ones for a box of used. Now taking credit or cash. Seldom buy ebooks/audio as can get at library so usually a Humble Bundle or Story Bundle purchase with extra for the charity/authors.
Huh! I’m surprised. I said it was like 6:1 audio to print, but if I just go by the numbers it’s about half and half. Audio: 21. Hard copy: 6. Ebook: 14 - combined print: 20. However, what I read in print, whether dead-tree or ebook tends to be poetry (short) and children’s picture books. Novels take me several weeks to read in print, so there are comparatively few of them in there. I read print before bed and sometimes I’ll sit down to read, but I don’t often have the time for that, sadly.
E-books for me. I only read hardcopy books as a last resort. I started reading e-books in maybe 2005 or 2006, although I was reading them on a clunky backlit device with a small screen, so it wasn’t the greatest experience. I didn’t give up paper books altogether until after the first Kindle came out (late 2007, but I didn’t get one until early 2008), because that was a much better reading experience with a screen similar to the page of a paper book.These days, the biggest thing I love about e-books is the built-in front lighting on current devices. No matter what position I’m in, or what quality the light is where I’m at, the light on my book is always perfect and I don’t even think about it. When I read a paper book, I’m constantly distracted by the ambient lighting and the way my body blocks light in different spots on the book when I change position, or the way moving clouds cause my page to darken if I’m reading by sunlight. I always feel like I’m squinting at a page that’s at least partially shadowed. It didn’t bother me as much before e-books, but I guess I’m spoiled now.
I also think my e-book reading is more thorough and leads to better comprehension. I’m more likely to look up an unfamiliar word on the dictionary or wiki, because all I have to do is touch it. And I do a much better job of keeping up with who’s who in a book with lots of characters. With a paper book, if I saw a familiar character name but couldn’t remember who they were, I usually just glossed over it and hoped the context would remind me. If it didn’t, oh well, I guess they weren’t that important. With an e-book, I can touch their name and then touch the search icon to find the first passages where they were mentioned and instantly remember what I’ve already read about them. This often makes the current passage more relevant than it would have been if I hadn't remembered who they were. I actually don’t like the X-Ray feature, and I've trained myself to not look at it, because too often (last I looked at it, anyway) it gives information that hasn’t been revealed yet by the page of the book I’m on. I hate that, even if it doesn’t spoil any major plot points. I just want to be reminded of what I should know based on what I’ve already read, and the search feature is perfect for that.
It’s also easier to find passages I’ve read if I want to review them again, because I can use the search feature to look up words I remember from it. That’s useful sometimes for SFFBC group read discussions. I’ll also sometimes highlight a passage that looks important for reference, like a prophecy or something, so I can quickly find it later. Sometimes I also highlight and/or make notes about things I think I might want to mention when I write my review.
And of course it’s nice to be able to adjust the font. I also like that even the longest books are still small and light. I like that I can get a new book instantly at the moment I’m ready to read it, and I like having access to (almost) all the books, owned or not, wherever I am. I especially like that if I’m out doing something and I find myself stuck waiting somewhere longer than expected, I can just pull out my phone, sync up, and start reading from where I had left off on my Kindle at home. I hate carrying purses, so I only have with me whatever I can fit in my pockets – usually just keys, credit card, license, and phone. It’s nice that my entire library is one of those things that fits in my pocket now.
Even though I spend my entire workdays on a computer, I don’t ever have the problem that many others mention about not wanting to spend more time looking at a screen or computer-ish device. Maybe it’s because I grew up on computers, so computers represented entertainment to me long before they represented work. And I enjoy my job pretty well anyway, so computers don’t have any unpleasant associations for me.
DivaDiane wrote: "It doesn't take up any space, except on some server somewhere."Yeah, that's the rub. Depending on where companies get their electricity, servers can be pretty climate unfriendly. But with toilet paper coming from virgin old growth boreal forests, probably not the worst of our problems.
Michelle wrote: "I have a hard time with ebooks at my city library. They have some, but not a lot."Is your library connected to a larger network? I'm in a rural town with a tiny library, but the region's network means I can get just about anything.
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Elaine wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I have a hard time with ebooks at my city library. They have some, but not a lot."Is your library connected to a larger network? I'm in a rural town with a tiny library, but the ..."
Yes, it's Hoopla. But I come across more audiobooks than ebooks.
We have Hoopla too, which I haven't used, because the interlibrary loan program is awesome.
I prefer hardcopy books. There's something about the feel of it I like. Also, I spend so much time looking at screens in my daily life. A hardcopy gives me a greater sense of escape.
I ran across the following link in the Goodreads Audiobooks group: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/...It is a short article about the rapid growth of audiobooks and the addition of narration as an enjoyable part of reading books. It predicts that audiobook sales will soon overtake ebooks. I can add that switching to audio has allowed me to read many more books than I ever did before. But I will also say that, like Captain Picard, I still love holding a hardcopy in my hands. I hope paper publishing never goes away.
Does cost factor in? A lot of SF novels are very long, so is an ebook more attractive then? (And with inflation, paper is getting more expensive every day.)