Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Physical or E-book? My Final Answer

Physical book or ebook? It has been one of the hottest bookish debates for years. Some still love physical books, but some start opting for more practical ebooks. I have been mostly neutral these years, still loving physical books, but also enjoying ebooks. I owned a Kindle e-reader years ago, but nowadays I prefer Google Playbooks, as it's more eficient: only one gadget for all. In short, I was not fanatical when it comes to book shape, just so I can read. But the other day I saw one tweet that asked: "are you a physical copy or ebook person?" And all of a sudden, it has all settled for me!

You see, my reading range has lately been narrowed down to classics. About ten years ago I still maintained not less than three book blogs (what I was thinking back then?!): one for classics, one for hisfics, and the other for popular genres. Years later, I abandoned my popular genre one, and focused more on the classics (this blog), and the hisfic one. But in the last five years I've been more and more attracted to classics - and so now I focus mostly on Fanda Classiclit. This year, for instance, all of my read books are classics.

Even my book shelves are nowadays dominated by classics; the non-classics area has been largely invaded by the classics (sorry, NC guys!). I now see my future self as a classics reader, who at times would pick non classics if they interest me. I think this preference has helped me to settle my personal debate on physical copy vs ebook once for all:


PHYSICAL BOOKS

= I feel more connected to a story when reading it from physical book. It's like the sentences become alive - something I rarely feel with ebooks. Do you feel it too?

= I can freely annotate, highlight, underline, or dog-ear physical copy whenever I find something interesting, touching, or important. It's like when you exclaim: hear, hear! to something that really excites or defines you while listening to a speech, like: That's It! Well, you can still tap highlight in your e-reader and bookmark a page, but somehow it feels different. It's like you're reading a speech from newspaper, instead of listening to the live version.

I love to write in my book. My copy of Moby Dick, for instance, is full of penciled annotations (words I don't understand or subjects I'd like to google later on). And I also write summary below each chapter-end, because I'd soon forget what it's about after months later (and Moby Dick is a book you won't read in just a week or two, right?). These things, you can't do with ebooks. I read somewhere that handwriting is very different to typing, it's a multisensory activity that makes you understand and memorize better. Do you think so? However, I don't make annotation as a must. I write down on my book whenever I need to express or emphasize something. It can be just in once in a page, but sometimes all over the pages. :))


= Physical book promotes slow reading, better digesting, and deeper reflecting on a book, much better (for me, at least) compared to ebook. I tend to read fast with ebook. That's why I love reading mysteries or thrillers in ebooks, but for classics... it doesn't work as good as physical book.

= I often hear readers saying how they love the smell of a book... Well, I'm not that kind of reader. I'm also allergic to dust mites and molds, which can often be found in old books. No, I prefer new books really, and I never pay much attention to the fresh ink smell, or whatever, either. However, I love colors and paintings on physical books covers, something I can cherish as my own. I love my books, the substance as well as the contents. I don't feel the same with ebooks. And that's why I keep forgeting books that I keep in my Playbooks library - I feel that they don't really belong to me. Does that make sense?

= It's not fair to not mentioning positive points of ebook. Well, I like ebooks for the cheaper prices (even free for classics), space saving, and adjustable font sizes. Google Playbooks, on particular, giving samples for each ebooks. It's very helpful when I can't make my mind whether to like a book or not. I can always download the sample and browse a chapter or two. It's especially useful to get cheaper price for shorter or less famous books.

So that's it, it's settled now, I will focus more on paperbacks! What about you? Do you prefer reading classics from physical or ebook? Or both?

10 comments:

  1. i'm pretty much in agreement with you on real books as opposed to electric ones even though i use a trekstor mini for a lot of the books i post on because a lot of them come from Gutenberg and it's a very small ereader: smallest in the world, i think... but i do like the smell of old books and have a lot of them that i treasure... (i'm at "mudpuddlesoup2.blogspot.com") if you get bored and need a lighter mood blog...

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    1. I've never heard about trekstor mini. E-reader becomes handy sometimes, especially to get books which are out of print, for instance, but like you, I still love the real books.

      I've visited your blog a couple times, actually. Just quick visits, and didn't leave footprints. But I might come by these days.. :)

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  2. I do prefer real books, but I don't mind reading on an eReader. I used to travel for work & the eReader was great for that. And when Covid hit here, the libraries closed for a few months, but I could check out books to my Kobo, which was great. And there's so many great older things on Project Gutenberg, which are free and easy to get.

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    1. Yes, e-reader makes reading classics more easier, right? Especially if one travels a lot, like you.
      Ahh... library... unfortunately there's none near my place (which provides classics) :(

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  3. I read both, it just depends on what format I can get easily. I'm tending not to buy classics any more if I can get them online (especially for free!) because I'm simply running out of space. I tend to buy books that I can't get online or from the library. I always have multiple books going and the classics are nearly always ebooks, or audio if I can get them. I just have so much I want to read and having a book on audio or on my phone helps me to squeeze in another book that much faster!

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    1. The classic problem of bookworms: so many books, so little space.. :)
      I should get myself used to audio books, where do you usually get it? Audible?

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  4. I need a real physical book too, but then I am biased, working in an Indie bookstore as I do :-)
    Like you, I like to annotate classics, but occasionally some are out of print and I have no choice but to read them on my ipad (I use Project Gutenberg for my classic downloads).
    I've been cleaning out my bookshelves (very slowly) this year of the books I know I will never reread. It is never the classics that fall into this group (except for Don Quixote! Once was more than enough!). Classics are keepers.

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    1. How lucky you are to work in a bookstore! :)
      I do the same bookshelves cleaning to provide space for more to come. Ones which I didn't like and won't reread - bye-bye! And that's how Don Quixote had departed earlier from my apartment! :))

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  5. All your read books are classics? Wow! Do you ever read anything light for relaxation, or do you have other hobbies for that?

    I resisted ebooks for YEARS, but as more titles opted to be ebook only, and as my interest in minimizing my stacks grew, I've shifted to more and more ebooks. I think ebooks account for just over half my reading this year, but corona may have skewed that... I read an absolute pile of real books while I was quarantining.

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    1. From time to time I read popular or lighter books also. But lately my readings have been narrowed down to mostly classics.

      Yes, ebooks are very useful to minimize the stack. I love reading Agatha Christie, and her books are so numerous I have to read them in ebooks :)

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What do you think?