So, am I the only one here...

[Songmistress]

... who is still a book purist? The only one without a Kindle (and who doesn't ever want one)? The only one who still requires her pages be paper and her words be ink? To feel. To smell. To nearly taste. Reading for me is visceral. Books hold magic. Technology is great, but Tolkien would weep to see his books read on a cold, flavourless, magicless screen. I love tech. But, I have no place for it when it comes to my books. When it comes to the telling of stories in the written word, the printing press is as modern as I get. But, I know I am not among a majority here. I just wondered if I'm the ONLY one here (other than @Squarepeg, that is - I know he's as anti e-reader as I am).  

[Kitty]

Sadly I am not on your team, I love reading but I prefer not having to do books now, I like reading on my phone when I can switch the backgroud to back with white text, I like the fact the bookmark is automatic... 

And one of my GREAT joys is reading in the bath. Bath has to be SOOO hot, not pop your toes in and they feel melty but sit in the bath and gradually increase the temp as ytour body gets used to it and then hotter again, wait and then hotter again. By the time I get out the water is still hot enough for my partner to have a bath... This tends to be steamy and wrinkles my book pages... I don't care enough about my kindle's safely to mind taking it in

[Phoenix]

I preferred books until recently I tried reading a large paperback and found it surprisingly difficult with my neuro problems. I pretty much have to do screens now. I have a large phone but I've thought about getting a super lightweight e-reader. The bath idea sounds great, too. I wouldn't even consider getting my phone near the hot tub, but a cheaper device, sure.

[hirondelle]

I love books, but I don't have the luxury of space for them and hate having to sell them / give them away. So ebooks are a godsend for me.  Also much easier to carry around, read on my commute etc.  Additionally in most cases the kindle version is cheaper and I don't have to pay shipping. And finally purchase / delivery is instant so you can go from - hmm I fancy reading X to actually reading X in seconds rather than having to schedule a trip to Waterstones.

[Timberwolf]

I used to be real books as well, then I read a monster book and on my commute to work on the skytrain, my hand and wrist get tired from holding the book up right.  I still read paper books, but I, like @hirondelle do not have the luxury of space, and I love my books.  hirondelle bought me a kindle on one of our trips to the UK I believe, and I was able to read a monster book on the skytrain with no pain to my hand or wrist, which is a good thing, I think.  For certain authors, like Terry Brooks, I still prefer paper books.

[Lightningfall]

I converted to e-reading long, long ago.  I still love the real deal, don't get me wrong, I have a collection of real, paper books that is quite substantial.  The problem, for me, is that I always have to travel to work; for years I had about an hour long drive, one way; now I walk to work and don't like to carry very much with me.  Beyond that, I read fairly quickly, and I hate to be without a book.  With all of that, I find the convenience of e-readers far out-weigh my love of the real thing.

[Kethlia]

I still hoard my hardcopy books but I do also love ebooks. Granted I had restricted access to the internet for a year so hardcopy books of my favorites are always near at hand. I dream of having a beautiful library too.

[hirondelle]

Bumping this topic as 3 years have passed and habits change... what do you all read these day, books e-books or a mix of both? What is your preference?

[Moonhawk]

I tried ebooks and audio books. Nothing like the hard copy of the book. Audio books dont work for me because my ADD doesnt allow me to concentrate on whoever or whatever is being read. E-BOOKs I tried but since I use it on my phone any stupid little notification takes me down the rabbit hole. I go from ohh i need to finish that mission on that game to shopping on amazing to facebook back to the game, then searching bs, bird, stone and who the fuck knows and I forgot that I had started reading a book

 

[hirondelle]

3 hours ago, Moonhawk said:

I tried ebooks and audio books. Nothing like the hard copy of the book. Audio books dont work for me because my ADD doesnt allow me to concentrate on whoever or whatever is being read. E-BOOKs I tried but since I use it on my phone any stupid little notification takes me down the rabbit hole. I go from ohh i need to finish that mission on that game to shopping on amazing to facebook back to the game, then searching bs, bird, stone and who the fuck knows and I forgot that I had started reading a book

 

I am the same with reading ebooks on my phone, but I do love my Kindle paperwhite... no browser, no distracting and very easy to read.  Best Christmas gift in ages - thank you @Timberwolf

[Timberwolf]

As much as I love physical books, we end up owning just way too many, and (1) they are just simply a pain in the ass to move from place to place, and (2) we just don't have the shelve space for all the books we own.  Now, we only keep certain authors for physical books (Terry Brooks) and gifts for physical books, and everything else we do our best to go for ebooks.  I read ebooks on my iPad mini, which is only connected to the internet unless I have connected to wifi, so it works awesome for me, plus it's the size of a kindle, which I love as well.

[Lightningfall]

Physical books, e-books, audiobooks.  I use them all.  It just depends on the situation.