Worlds Unlike Our Own

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts. Today’s topic is: What’s your favorite reading format?

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What’s your favorite reading format? Hardback? Paperback? Audiobook? Ebook? What makes you prefer one over the other?

My favorite format will always be physical books, it’s just better in terms of reading experience when I can hold the book and turn the pages, something I always miss with ebooks or audiobooks. As far as which physical format l like best, I don’t really see a difference between hardcovers and paperbacks as far as reading goes. I frequently use the library so it’s a mix of both that I get from there. If I’m buying however, I always prefer hardcovers when possible. I don’t buy books very often and the ones I do buy are those that I want to keep long term and hardcovers are best for that.

Which do you read the most?

The format I read most are ebooks. It’s mostly for sheer convenience because most of my reading time is when I’m commuting to work or otherwise on the go and I would never risk damaging my physical copies in my bag. Most ARCs I receive are also digital which means more than 70% of the books I read each year are ebooks, whether on my Kindle or the library’s Overdrive app.

However, there are certain authors whose books I always read in a physical format (I remember the story best that way) – Cassandra Clare, Sarah J Maas, Alison Weir and Kate Quinn – and of course, the classics. I also try my best to get a physical copy for any particularly long books, 600+ pages that I want to read, as I find it helps me focus better.

What are the pros and cons of these different formats?

Hardcovers are quite expensive and bulky, which means it’s very hard to carry them around, but also very durable. They have such lovely dust jackets, and there are those gorgeous special editions that I love to collect – plus, they look great on my shelf!

Paperbacks are much more economical and you can generally get two paperbacks for the price of one hardcover, an advantage for anyone trying to keep to a book budget. They are way easier to carry around but are easily damaged and don’t last nearly as long as hardcovers.

Ebooks are convenient, mostly inexpensive and with an ereader, you can carry around your entire library wherever you go. The disadvantage is that it’s never the same feel as an actual book.

I don’t listen to audiobooks very often so my experience is limited, but I find that they’re useful when I’m working on something else and can just listen to it in the background. On the downside, I can’t take notes or highlight interesting passages, and the story never seems to stick in my memory the way reading a book does.

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What’s your favorite reading format? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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