Late last month in a Books on Sale post, Stephanie Burgis mentioned in a comment:
I absolutely adore The Widow of Rose House – it’s one of my very favorite books!
After I read it in ebook, I bought a paperback copy, too, because I needed to have it in multiple formats for all my future re-reads. 🙂
I think this is so cool, and really interesting. I don’t own many physical copies of books, but ebooks and audiobooks I often acquire in tandem because I like having the option to read or listen.
I also had to become Rather Nosy and ask the rest of the folks in SBTB HQ.
Elyse: I own a lot of books both as physical copies and digital copies. My reading habits shift between the two. I read a lot more closely with a physical book, but it’s less convenient.
Amanda: I usually get multiple editions for different covers or special copies.
Sarah: It’s rare for me to actively want a three dimensional piece of matter, especially a print book, when I have the digital copy.
That said, I do make sure that my Kindle is charged for reading because it’s too easy for me to distract myself and browse away from reading on my phone to other digital snacking activities that aren’t as restful and relaxing for my brain the way reading is.
Elyse: Even limited to a Kindle, reading an ebook is less restful for me.
Susan: I have so many books in different formats.
Sarah: Do you collect them or forget you already own them?
Susan: Possible reasons for me:
- I got a digital arc and now I want to buy a copy
- ADHD tax; I collect the series in hardcopy, lost the middle volume SOMEWHERE, and buy a digital copy to gap fill (and then immediately find the copy I lost!)
- Most of the audiobooks I get are rereads because I don’t trust myself not to miss things
- I just REALLY LOVE/REALLY HYPERFOCUSED on a book and then….
Sarah: All understandable reasons!
Shana: Not exactly the same, but I now always check an audiobook and a ebook copy of books out of library at the same time.
There’s usually a point in a book where I get too invested in the story to put up with the slow pace of listening (even at 1.5X speed) and need to know what happened RIGHT NOW. So I often read the first 75% of a book on audio and then read the last quarter as an ebook.
I also love bookstores too much to not buy beautiful paper books, but most of the time I’m buying a book I’ve already read as an ebook or ARC.
Does anyone else buy ebooks they really loved even when you have an ARC? It’s kind of my “thank you for writing this life changing book” tax to the author. I wish you could just tip authors directly, honestly. Just slide a $10 bill across the table with a note saying “thanks for the sex scene on page 184.”
Ellen: Yes, I definitely do this!
Susan: YES. Mainly KJ Charles, Cat Sebastian, and Stephanie Burgis.
… Plus sometimes I just can’t remember which app I have a book in >_>
Shana: KJ Charles’s book Unfit to Print just got me out of a terrible book hangover and I would happily buy her coffee for a week to thank her for rescuing me.
Sneezy: I also like to get books in audio and e-/physical copies if I can, especially for books that has names and words in different languages. My brain bounces between whether audio or visual is more digestible for it. Sometimes I really need both. I often need English subtitles on for English movies.
Shana: This reminded me of our conversation!
Sarah: Yes.
What about you? Are there books that you need to own in multiple formats? Which formats, and why?
I’m out of bookshelf space, so I don’t buy English-language novels in hard copy if an ebook is available (something I actively regret when a cover I love randomly changes on the digital release), but I do buy books in multiple formats:
1) ebook editions of longstanding favorites that I already own on paper. Primary reason(s): portability, constant access, and concern that my 35 year old paperbacks will crumble if I try to use them as intended.
2) audiobooks of books I own either on paper or ebook. I only listen to audiobooks of books I’ve already text-read. The experience is both completely different and comfortably familiar, and the format is an absolute necessity for reading while hiking or driving or playing tappy games.
3) audiobooks of the same title by different (hopefully better) narrators. (*mumble*Devil in Winter*endmumble*)
4) English translations of Japanese manga. My Japanese sucks, plus I want to support the translators and publishers who are trying to make this work commercially. But I don’t want to wait for a series to be licensed before I read it (and I have a love/hate relationship with literature in translation, since I feel like I’m ceding a first pass at interpretation to the translator and I resent that), so I keep collecting the Japanese editions, waiting for the day I magically become fluent.
I buy ebooks and paperbacks, sometimes of the same book, but more frequently because I read different genres/types of books in different ways. I can’t do audiobooks, as much as I wish I could. I zone out too much if it’s just listening to someone talk. And I also buy books I’ve read an ARC for, as much as possible. Just because I read it early doesn’t mean the author shouldn’t get paid for it.
Ebooks are for traveling – hard to carry a big pile of books on a plane. When i was a kid, my sister and I used to cram all our clothes into 1 suitcase and pack the second with books. Our parents used to try to get us to spread books over 2 suitcases, but nope. We needed our suitcase full of books. I think I’m on my parents side, now. I also tend to read ebooks in bed (even though I know you’re not supposed to because of blue light). I just need better light than I can get from a lamp or book light to read a hard copy. These books are usually popcorn books, something I can read for a few hours and hopefully not join the Bad Decisions Book club. Action-romance, novellas, re-reads.
Paperbacks are for when I want the actual tactile experience of reading. Sometimes that’s an author I love, but more often it’s when I want to park myself in a chair, listen to the rain and just imagine for a few hours. So that’s usually fantasy, romance, or an author I know will have evocative language.
The only times I tend to buy trade size or hard cover are textbooks or reference books, when I know I’m going to be rough on them – turning pages back and forth, propping it open while I take notes etc.
I consume books in multiple formats but rarely the same book at the same time, unless one is free (e.g. a kindle book I own but haven’t yet read comes up in the Audible Plus catalogue). Usually it’s ebook for romance and paper for everything else. And audio when I get lucky with the book-narrator combo. I rarely reread and therefore do not see the point of buying a book I’ve already read. In fact, once I’ve read my physical copy of a book I usually donate it. I would listen to more audio versions of books I enjoyed years ago, but whenever I think of a book I’d like to revisit I find the narrator is rubbish. Although I love the tactile nature of reading a physical book, I treat books as experiences rather than artefacts. Once I’ve absorbed the content I don’t need to keep the object. My crammed bookshelf is therefore a constant reminder of my tragic lack of reading time….
I still read primarily in paper, though I have collected some ebook copies of favorites for reasons similar to @Deborah.
I’m with @Ely, audio books just don’t work for me. It was such a wonderful relief to find that podcasts do – the difference between listening to a conversation, I think, and the equivalent of someone talking at me for hours. (Also with @Ely on packing books for trips, though I never got away with an entire suitcase of them.)
I resisted ebooks for years until I was home recovering from an accident and couldn’t get to the library or bookstores, and until Lois Bujold starting publishing the Penric books only as ebooks. But I get print copies as soon as they are available. Lately I have found myself unable to concentrate on ebooks, and I can’t figure out why. It’s like my eyes just slide off the screen. The cost of ebooks is also starting to give me pause. Not that authors don’t deserve full compensation, but $13 for an ebook when the paperback is $16 really makes me weigh the convenience of an ebook.
I used to be a paper only purist, but since developing chronic illness I now have my favourite books for rereading in ebook, physical copy and audiobook format.
I mostly read new books via ebooks these days, both kindle and via the library. The ereader is so much lighter and easier to hold for long periods, plus I’m normally reading a few books at once depending on how I feel at that moment so it’s easier to have them all with me at all times. I can’t read new books in audiobook as my attention wanders, but when I’m feeling too ill to actually read I find listening to an audiobook where I already know the story very soothing, it keeps my attention engaged without needing to worry about missing anything important when I drift away.
And I also buy a physical copy of my die hard favourite books, partly because it makes me happy to have them around me, partly because they’ll outlive changes in technology and formats, partly because it just doesn’t feel like an option not to…funnily enough, this never struck me as potentially weird until I read this post
I was completely converted to ebooks early on and almost never read on paper anymore. That said there are about three authors I love so much that I will buy both the ebook and a hardcover so they get paid twice.
If I really love books in e-book and/or audio book format, I will frequently also buy it in paperback as well (especially if the cover is beautiful) because I want to be able to see it and show it off on my shelves. I don’t have space for hardbacks, so I tend to avoid them. I also very often end up buying books I have only in audio in either e-book or paper, so I have the opportunity to re-read more easily or catch myself up if I’m confused about something.
With Ilona Andrews’ books, I will usually buy them in ALL the formats, because I love the books so much. Audio, e-book and paperback. With the Innkeeper Chronicles, I even have some in both regular audio and graphic audio, because I really love how Graphic Audio did the full-cast editions.
I’ve been exclusively an e-reader for years. At first it was the convenience, but now it’s the aging vision and lack of shelf space. I’m trying to supplement all my ancient keeper MMPBs with ebooks, because like me, they’re elderly and falling apart. I do still buy special purpose paper books, such as cookbooks and other reference materials with photos and other non-text content. Although that may change since I switched from a nook Simple Touch e-ink reader to a tablet.
I am a visual rather than aural acquirer, so audiobooks never did anything for me. But I recently listened to a couple of Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles by Graphic Audio (full cast with sound effects and music) and really enjoyed them.
I didn’t own a Kindle until 2014 (it was a gift), but I’d say I now read primarily on my Kindle. The exception is primarily library copies of book group books or other books that I don’t have the funds to purchase. I still purchase paper books, too. (Often from thrift stores.) With likely a thousand paper books, I will be set with reading matter if an EMP takes out electronic reading options!
Nobody has mentioned the apocalypse! I read exclusively ebook but since COVID I have bought 3 or 4 of my absolute favorites as paperbacks – in case of the apocalypse, or a 3 day power outage (I see all of you with feet of snow and rain this winter.) So far I haven’t read them in paper form, but feel reassured that they are available.
I am among those who can’t listen to audio books because my mind wanders.
I WISH they would sell the e-book and the physical book as a package, because I so often buy both. I also do have several copies of books – I have an ancient battered paperback of Penelope Lively’s MOON TIGER from high school which I got her to sign in person when I was seated next to her at a dinner in college, and then I have a nice copy for reading because I’m terrified the battered one will fall apart one day. I have a shiny fancy edition of RAVEN BOYS, and then I have the old paperback which Maggie Stiefvater signed. I have an original UK edition of Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS and then a later expanded American edition and also, an e-book copy because it was on sale for $1.99. And oh yes, my high school paperback of GOOD OMENS where I got Pratchett and Gaiman’s signatures on different occasions years apart is never getting read again, so I have another copy of that too.
But oh, the ADHD tax… I just re-read Seanan McGuire’s Cryptid series from beginning to end, and couldn’t find what I’d done with CALCULATED RISKS so bought it as an ebook so I could read it NOW and then found the paperback two days later.
I’ve gone back to buying most things in paper, because I forget about ebooks too easily.
If I really love a book, I’ll consider buying it in the other format. (ebook for convenience/backup, paper because I just seem to prefer it.)
Or if it’s really chunky and on sale.
I have one paper book I bought because I forgot I bought it as an ebook. Still haven’t read either copy.
I suspect I’d have more overlap if I bought audiobooks, because I like reading along while listening to them. (I have a tag on libby for this purpose.)
My first instinct said this must be a setup, that I’m going to get caught publicly admitting to buying books in multiple formats. Thankfully the pink palace is safe.
Digital books for all my reading now, audiobooks aquired for keepers. Most recent was BLITZ by Daniel O’Malley, worth every penny for both. I had all of Rachel Aaron’s No Good Dragon series and then each audiobook was $1.99. How does anyone pass that up?
I will definitely pick books up in both ebook and audio format, and I do have my favorites in hardcover. But nothing compares to my all-time favorite Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, of which I own: a paperback on the verge of falling apart, the ebook, a hardcover, the audio, the full-cast audio production, and an illustrator’s collected edition.
I wanted to share this here because SBTB readers will understand.
In 1983, I discovered Michael Malone’s HANDLING SIN at the library. Read it so many times, finally found my own HC copy, bought the PB and HC of all his books when I met him at a signing almost 20 years later (Muppet flail).
My sincerest wish all this time was for an audiobook edition, and I would check Audible religiously, just in case. Then I gave up, until last month on a whim. Forty years later, the unabridged audio will be out. It’s pre-ordered and I only need to wait another month.
Honestly I nearly cried. Why now? What changed? Will the narrator be right for the book? I do not care. If I could hold this audiobook tight to my heaving bosom, I would do that.
I read primarily ebooks now, just for he convenience and space. But I have a library of favorite books, both paperback and hardcover. I reread my favorite books when I want the comfort of an old friend and I have numerous of them on my kindle now. I also will buy the print book and ebooks when I find that perfect book. Hubby thought when I started reading ebooks my library would diminish. Not so much.
I primarily read fiction of any genre in ebook. I do buy my beloved favorites in print, especially if it’s an indie author. With B&N’s recent preorder sales, I have been buying some traditionally published LGBTQIA romances in print to support them. But when there is a sale on the ebook, I often will then grab that, especially if the title is still in my TBR.
I do have a few favorites in audio, for when I need a break from podcasts on long drives. So there are probably about 5 titles for which I have all three formats.
Lack of space and ease of carrying ALL my books with me (I am a re-reader) switched me to digital. Now I have added audiobooks into the mix. I buy both digital and audio; sometimes just for the discount on the audio book.
On another tangent, is anyone else mad at Amazon for switching their format to one you can’t convert? I am now missing out on books by favorite authors who are exclusively Amazon because I cannot read on a backlit screen (eye issues) and I do not have a Kindle (and prefer not to be tied to one vendor.)
I have a few books that are in eBook and paperback, if I read the eBook and loved it I will buy the paperback sometimes for keeper shelf purposes. If I buy an audiobook and I know I should like it but it’s not keeping my attention I will buy an eBook – but audible/kindle doesn’t sync for me (I think it’s a Canada problem but it could be me).
And I buy nonfiction in dead tree version. Charts and tables are important for me . Manga and graphic novels are dead tree only too, even though I do have several apps for them.
I am trying not to buy so many things. I am a big library fan, and I am not a big re-reader. If I own multiple formats, it’s probably by accident.
I’ve been known to page through a library copy of a cookbook and note which recipes I’d really like to try, then purchase the ebook version. Though I am just as likely to purchase a used print copy. Yes, I’m drowning in cookbooks…
My sister likes to have both audio and print – she can listen while walking the dog, and then read in bed without disturbing her husband. Though she does this with library copies.
To each their own, eh?
Yes, yes, & yes! I used to be all paper, but got a kindle. However, the pandemic has taken a toll on reading online, so I’m getting back into some paper again.
But for the things I ADORE, I often splurge & get the audiobook. So I can re-immerse myself into that world while walking, or doing a puzzle, or coloring. Or some activity that lets me multitask in that way.
I love this question. I think it’s important to have physical books – it’s a reflection of values in my household, and I hope it encourages my kid to grow up reading. But I almost never read physical books anymore. I tried with The Invisible Kingdom, and ended up reading it on my phone from the library (and I’m thinking now I should buy the ebook too). I don’t know why this is, except that my Oasis is most comfortable for my fibromyalgia pain. But the phone is not, and it’s so bad to stare at the screen!
Typically only one format purchased although I might read or listen from library in one format and buy an ebook copy.
I do still buy in hard copy to support local bookstores or when i want to potentially share a book or mark it up, and I will admit to setting a calendar reminder in order to buy the special edition Helen Hoang set recently (only read from library and bought copies for an aunt who was also reading it, held off buying myself the ebooks).
I have quite a few paper books (I’m a constant rereader, so I keep any book I love forever) but little space remaining, so I mostly buy ebooks. Occasionally I’ll buy ebooks of ones I already have in print if I find them on sale, just for convenience. And very occasionally, I’ll buy a hard copy of ones I’ve read in ebook format and really loved.
Also, I recently started another attempt at reading Les Miserables (never made it through more than maybe 1/4 in previous attempts), and while I’m reading it on Kindle (highly recommend the recent Penguin Donougher translation, which has many helpful historical/cultural notes on Kindle), I just bought a paperback of the same edition mostly just so I can bookmark along with where I am on Kindle for the satisfaction of seeing how far into the enormous book I am?
That may be the weirdest reason I’ve bought both versions, but it’s so much more satisfying to see the chunk of pages behind my bookmark grow than just the little % at the bottom on Kindle! Still, I enjoy the book a lot (despite my slow progress) and am obsessed with the musical and the deluxe edition has lovely cover art, so I think it’s worth it to have a print copy.
@Darlynne I had a similar experience with ALAS BABYLON by Pat Frank. It was my absolute favorite book we read in high school and I recommend it to everyone. Always wanted my dad to read it but he drives a lot so mostly does audio and seldom reads an actual book, and my brother too, who has dyslexia so doesn’t read much. But there had never been an audiobook and I figured there never would be for a somewhat obscure book from 1959. And then a few years back Audible themselves actually made one! I was so thrilled! It was beautifully done and my dad and brother (and my whole family) loved it like I thought they would and I’ve listened to it several times myself and still really enjoy it.
I have a huge library of physical books I love and, for the most part, reread. (I am beginning to prune the ones I don’t love and reread, with an eye to downsizing once we retire.) I’ve spent the last decade duplicating as many of my favorites as I can in Kindle format because:
1) I never know, when I’m traveling, which books I’m going to be in the mood to reread; ebooks don’t take up any space.
2) As I get older, the font size in older books and many mass-market paperbacks gets harder and harder to read; Kindle fonts are scalable.
3) I can read Kindlebooks in the dark. (I have a Kindle Paperwhite in the generation that lets you choose warmer light at night.)
I track the authors I love on BookBub, so I get alerted to sales of their works, which has saved me a lot of money over 10 years. (OK, to be fair, it has also meant I spent a lot on ebooks, since I also end up buying books that are on my TBR list.)
I don’t tend to buy audiobooks unless I have read the book already, or the audiobook is specifically recommended to me. And as with ebooks, I keep an eye on sales. I always listen to the sample, to make sure I can stand the narrator, but I agree with Deborah that a good performance can enhance some books, or at least make listening a different and equally enjoyable experience. I also enjoy being able to switch to an audiobook when I’m knitting, doing dishes or housework, or driving, so I don’t have to stop engaging with the story just because my hands and eyes are needed for other tasks.
As a blogger, I read a lot of ARCs, usually in digital format. If it’s a book I love and know I will reread, I will definitely purchase it in some format (usually digital because I’m running out of places to put more bookshelves.) But there are books and series that I will buy in paperback or hardcover, either because I started collecting that author’s works well before digital books came along (hello, Mercedes Lackey), or because the book is so pretty that I just have to have a copy, or because I want to annotate it.
And then there are the books I love so much that I will get multiple physical editions, in addition to digital and audio versions… especially collectible editions. Most of the books in that category are favorite children’s classics that I still reread: The Secret Garden, Louisa May Alcott’s books, the Anne of Green Gables series. Some adult classics (like Austen) and mid-century authors fall in this category, too; I want older or even original editions for the cover and/or illustrations, but I also want a copy so I can read without worrying what will happen to it, mark my favorite passages, or loan it to a friend.
I have multiple copies of certain favorites, like “Red, White, and Royal Blue”, “The Song of Achilles”, “Circe”, in print formats and then ebook for when the urge strikes to read a section. I always have both ebook and print copies of Cat Sebastian’s work (except for two in the Cabot novellas). I also have “Lord of Scoundrels” in original paperback copy, reprint paperback copy, and ebook. Oh, and I’m looking forward to getting “Heated Rivalry” in paperback to go with the ebook. I honestly wish I could be one of those people who is happy with a digital copy and has no need to keep print books, but alas, I am not.
I rarely buy books. I don’t like to re-read for the most part, and I read really quickly. The library is my best friend. I do prefer reading hardbacks from the library. I will get digital books for vacations. And very, very rarely will I buy a mass-market paperback – Terry Pratchett (RIP) was an autobuy for me. Julia Quinn is perhaps the only autobuy that I currently have.
I buy e-copies of books I own in paper if they are comfort reads I want to always have access to. So I have Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ellis Peters, Jane Austen, etc in both formats
For pleasure reading, I’ve skewed heavily to ebooks in the last decade. No regrets since this means I can tote a library everywhere I go. It’s even better when I can seamlessly borrow library books through apps like Hoopla. Ebooks are also easier to manage with nerve damage in my dominant hand or as I pop up and down dealing with issues arising throughout the day.
I only buy physical books when I know I’ll have call to lend them to others or they’re less a textual narrative and more a bibliographic experience. Since I’m a professor of history, I can easily add a hundred print books a year to my office collection although I’m trying to buy less profligately as retirement looms some years ahead. I’m already thinking about rehoming a significant chunk of my collection in the coming years.
I still end up with a dozen or so gifted print books each year since family members love to feed my reading habit and gifting ebooks isn’t nearly so enjoyable for them. Think about changing that, retailers!
I read only ebooks because:
1) SBTB tells me when they are on sale.
2) When I finish a good one I can buy the sequel RIGHT NOW.
3) When I look at my old paperbacks I am shocked by the miniature type size. Have my eyes changed that much in, uh, 30 years? Guess so.
I tend to get multiple formats if there’s a book I really WANT to read, but I find reading it a struggle, and I think it would help to be able to switch formats as needed for Optimum ADHD Stimulation. I’m currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell that way. Can’t focus on the hardcover? Ebook on my phone with large font size and infinite scrolling turned on. Scroll scroll scroll scroll. Lose focus on the ebook? Time to listen to audiobook while playing videogames. Brain drifted from audio narration while setting up towers in Kingdom Rush? Reread that section in book or ebook. Rinse, repeat.
Oh my, yes I do.
I tend to have a print and ebook version
or
an ebook and audio version
or
a print and audio version.
I rarely have all three.
I am a long time romance reader, so I have a ton of the mmpbs of old skool romances from the 80s/90s many with fantastic covers. Most of them are in nice boxes in my basement.
I am a technophile and was an early adopter of the kindle so when e books came along I was very much fascinated and enthusiastic. My first ebook purchase was the first book in the Mercy Thompson series, MOON CALLED. I think I got that in… 2009. I also have that in audio, btw.
What I ended up doing over time is as I wanted to re-read my older mmpbs, if they were in e-format I would get them in e-format as well. I began to amass a pretty good ‘additional’ library of these older book in digital.
And then I got into audiobooks. The first audiobook I listened to was NOBODY’S BABY BUT MINE by Susan Elizaneth Phillips and anyone who has heard the late Anna Fields narrate can tell you, she was superb. I think she single-handedly made me like audiobooks. Obviously not everyone is as great as she, but it taught me what I liked in a narrative performance when it came to audiobooks.
Nowadays I typically by the ebook (unless it is a series where I know the audio is good then I go straight to audio). If the ebook turns out to be a great favorite and the narrator is good, I’ll get it in audio as a re-read treat for myself later on.
I typically no longer purchase in novels in print.
If I find one of my paperback keeper books on sale or free in an ebook version, I’ll get it and give away the paperback because at my age I’m trying to deaccession as much stuff as I can. The exception is if it’s signed by the author.
I own both paper and ebook versions of some favorite, mostly older authors–Georgette Heyer, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, Carla Kelly–because the paperbacks are old and I want to have the ebook as a backup. During lockdown, SB Sarah inspired me to revisit the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters. I’d already read, and owned in paper copies, twelve or so of the twenty books in the series, and the only way to get the ones I hadn’t read was in ebook. I ended up buying the entire series that way, because they went on sale for two or three dollars a book. I didn’t like relying on ebooks for all my reading, though, and really missed the variation in physical books, the details like the paper, typeface, and the texture of the cover. I was very happy when the public library reopened for curbside pickup.
I almost exclusively read ebooks for recreation and will rebuy books I own from a long time ago in hard copy as ebooks, especially if they’re on sale. I just find ebooks a lot easier to always have on hand – if I’m reading a paper book, at times where it’s inconvenient to carry or pull out that paper book I still have my phone, and then I’m reading two books, which is inconvenient. As a grad student, I’m constantly surrounded by physical books I have to haul around for research and take up a lot of desk and bookshelf space at home and in the office, many of which are old or have small print, and in my off hours my tired eyes just have no patience for not being able to change the font or the lighting on books I’m reading for fun.
So interesting to read all these comments.
Does no one else worry that electronic formats will change, and all our ebooks will become inaccessible as devices age and cease functioning? 5 /14 floppies, 3″ floppies, DOS… Did I read that technically we don’t own our ebooks? If so, retailers are unlikely to care more than spit what happens to our ebook libraries.
I have a MASSIVE collection of print books, but over the last five years or so, have transitioned so that almost all my reading is electronic. So I will buy print now only for favorite authors (and yes, this means more than one format for them), or sometimes when I stumble across something at a used bookstore or Friends of the Library sale…
I do most of my reading on my Kindle, but I do try to have hard copies of my favorite keepers. I live 20 min. away from the best used book store. I used to haunt it every weekend before my mobility went to hell.
I think it’s a species of paranoia. You know that ancient episode of Twilight Zone–or maybe it was Hitchcock–where Burgess Meredith is a wife-bullied bibliophile who takes his lunch hour in the basement of the library. One day, he steps outside clutching his book into a scene of apocalyptic destruction, smiles, accidentally drops his coke bottle glasses, and steps on them? Well that would be me if I totally depended on digital, only an EMP or catastrophic failure of the power grid or Amazon malfeasance would render my ereader totally useless. I wouldn’t even get that moment to smile.
I’m trying to pare down on / get rid of paper books, so yes there are some duplicates. If my faves go on sale, I’ll likely buy the ebook to replace it.
EREADERIQ is great for setting alerts for specific books (although they track amazon, if a (big) publisher is doing a sale, it’s generally on most/all vendors. Amazon-only sales used to be common, but it seems to be happening less – YMMV.
I check my library’s digital collection and make a note if they have any of the paper books I may want to re-read later.
I have bought a few audiobooks but try not to buy them, because the files are huge compared to ebooks. 😛
I like reading without my glasses, and MMPB font size doesn’t cut it anymore, so that’s why I’m trying to get rid of most of them.
@PamG, yess! So much so that whenever that episode comes to mind, I immediately muse that I should learn how eyeglasses are made. Because you just never know….