Does anyone else just like "real" books?

I haven't read a physical book in years. Can't stand them anymore. The only time I've bothered with one in the last year was when I got called for jury duty, and even though it was the 4th book in a series I'd been reading I returned it to the library as soon as I got home. I do almost all my reading on my ipod touch, some on my kindle.

I don't have an e-reader. I like books to display on my shelves, and for the fantasy art books I collect, I like them large so I can admire the paintings.

Definitely the real thing. I love being able to check out the spines in my bookcase, see what I'm in the mood for. I love the feel of books and the smell of books and reading books in the bath. My son is the same. He reads on a Kindle if he's on the plane or doesn't have access to his books but, like me, he loves his bookcase collection.

My wife and I use our Kindles (yes, we have one each) frequently. We both like having real-books, but digital downloads are just much more convenient for us at this stage. We don't have enough room to store all the book we'd like to get, and are bound to move a few times in the coming years. Our county library has free-downloads to electronic readers, so it also makes it really convenient to just check out a stack of books that gets delivered automatically to my Kindle, rather than driving into town to get them, and remembering to drive back to return them.

I have a nook and when I am starving for a novel I will buy one and read it there because I am too lazy to actually go to the store and buy a physical copy but I 100% always prefer an old fashioned book to an e-reader. It gives a different feel to the novel I swear! I do not think real books will ever go away... (they better not or I will start a riot) but I do think e readers have helped bring non readers into the reading scene, so that is good I think! Me personally, I love collecting books as well!

I keep saying I prefer print books (I really detest calling them "real" as if the medium has anything to do with the story), but I'm also looking over my shoulder at boxes full of moldering paperbacks I haven't the sense to just toss out because I know I'll never read them again. It's that deep animal sense of possession, I guess. My last bit of reading was on an iPad so I think the future lies there even for stubborn folks like myself.

Kerry

I like them both, to be completely honest. I don't prefer one over the other. Physical books, you've got the weight, the scent, the pages, no battery to worry about, you can get them signed, give them the signs of age and many readings. Ebooks, you've got the numbers (lower prices, usually, and plenty of them in one place. Why lug a book on a trip when you can bring a library?), the convenience (lightweight, low risk of losing your page, no worries about shelf space), and the speed (two clicks and you can go from not owning it to reading), not to mention being kid- and pet-safe (I've seen what my niece does to books. She can bap an iPad endlessly with no damage, but leave a book in her presence and you'll end up with a crinkled, beat-up book. she loves to read, she just... hasn't gotten the hang of it yet.) When I'm at home, I love to curl up with a physical book. When I'm on the road or waiting somewhere, I bring my Kindle. It all depends on the circumstances.

I'm a fan of both. Kindles - and other eReaders - are fantastic, but I still like to own physical copies of books I particularly like.

I don't like the term "real" either -- to me books are just as "real" in any form, print, audio, or digital.

I have a policy of only buying print books (when available) because I have issues with buying a license that gives me access rather than owning an object. If the price point were lower on ebooks I would perhaps buy more, but a license is worth much less to me than a book. (Note that I do not think ebooks are less valuable than print books, I just think I should actually be allowed to own the files if I pay book-level prices for them, and because this is important to me I buy the print versions instead.)

I used to like reading print much better, but I confess that owning an ereader is slowly addicting me to the digital reading experience. (I download public domain classics to my Kindle regularly, which is what I got it for, and have bought ebooks that only have digital versions when it was important to me to support the author. Also digital library books. And I recently read the entire Hugo packet on my Kindle.) The main thing I love about my Kindle is that it's just so portable. It's light, and won't get its pages crinkled from being jammed in a bag, and I can carry dozens and dozens of books when I go traveling without them taking up space in my luggage. And when my eyes get tired I can make the text bigger! There are still things I like better about print -- being able to flip pages, the smell of paper, the physical feel -- but I'm gravitating toward reading on my Kindle more and more...

I have 2 kindles (the old e-reader and a paperwhite) and also an iPad where I read old 1900's books via Google Play. I like reading books on them that I can't find in book form, especially when the book versions are way expensive (I'm doing research on 1890 Philippines for a historical novel).

Having said that, my first love is books though - old fashioned books. I have Marcel Proust's Swann's Way right now and I love smelling the old leather and hearing the crispy pages turn. I also just acquired one of the first editions of The Little Prince, which brings back memories for me as it was my favorite book when I was younger.

Fruitbat said:

Huh, about the keeping/collecting books, I really don't. If it's fiction, I usually don't want it anymore after I'm done.

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I have a lot of out-of-print novels which I keep for research purposes. I might wonder something like, "How did so-and-so author write a hero who was shorter than the heroine?" and then it's nice to take a look back and see how the author handled the height difference, so I get tips or ideas for my own work.

I love the weight and smell of books. There's just something about cuddling up with an old classic in front of the fire on a cold winter evening that my Kindle doesn't measure up to.

But, I spend a lot of time camping and I take my Kindle along. It's little, light, and easy pack. Two hundred books at my fingertips. Having thousands of free books available is nice, too. So many choices, so little time.

I read e-books when I have to, but I am not a fan in any way. I prefer real books, and people can argue until they're blue in the face, but to me, e-books may be real fiction, but they are not real books. That's just how I feel about it.

I used to hate e-readers on principle. My husband brought home a Nook and I refused to use it, even buying duplicate paper copies of books he already had on it.

Then, my MIL bought me a Kindle and I tried it out. I liked the ability to save my place, the slim profile, and the fact that it wasn't back-lit like a computer screen. I got used to reading on it, but I still insisted that was as far as I was willing to go. I wouldn't use the Kindle or Nook ap on the iPad. They weren't enough like "real" reading.

Then, about two years ago, I discovered $.99 comic books were available on Kindle.

Now, I do almost all of my reading on Kindle in one form or another. It's getting to where if a book isn't availble for e-reader, I probably won't buy it.

slhuang said:

...I have issues with buying a license that gives me access rather than owning an object.

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I have a twinge of this. I don't like the idea that what I've bought isn't a physical book, it's just the privilege of reading it until someone decides I can't anymore. With a physical book, should I become homeless or the grid fall or Amazon go under or whatever other dire thing I can think of, I could still read my favorite physical book.

I like my reader in certain situations: in the car when it's dark, traveling with it in my bag (it won't get torn up), when I'm on the elliptical and it's tricky to keep a book open, when I'm doing something where I have to look back and forth between the reader and whatever related thing I'm doing (cooking, taking notes on my computer, etc.).

There are times I prefer my physical books. Bedtime for instance—physical books make me sleepy, whereas a reader makes me feel wired. I take a physical book to the bath. I also like physical books because I can stash them places I might want to read them if I notice them. I tend to forget about all the books I have on my reader unless I'm deliberately Reading right at that moment. Out of sight, out of mind.

I prefer paper and ink (print) books; even worse, I prefer hardback or trade PB if I can't get hardback.

Now, I do have the Kindle for PC app on my computer and I do use it sometimes. But, you know, it irks me that I'm not really buying that ebook, I'm only licensing the right to read it on Kindle or Kindle for PC. That print book is mine, mine, mine until I say not. So, there's that.

I prefer print books. I almost never read ebooks unless the format is a condition of my access to the thing. For example, digital review copies, or free books, etc. I don't have a kindle or nook. Maybe I would like them more if I did, but I doubt it. I like to be able to flip pages, and find things in the way you can with a physical book.

Both are fine.

One advantage ereaders have over printed books is that I don't have to hold them up and/or hold them open. There are times with the heavier tomes my hands ache.

With the Kindle, I can prop it up on my lap. With its hinged cover, I can lay on my side and use the cover like a tent to hold up the Kindle. I don't even have to hold it. That's nice.

I prefer print, but the e reader is great for sales that come up on places like All Romance and Bookstrand.

As a former bookseller, I initially hated the idea of e-readers. Then I found myself having to move house with over 3,000 books and the realization that I wasn't remotely attached to the majority of them. Whittled things down to about 500 books (still too many, probably) and decided I could re-read the ones I'd given away anytime on an e-reader.

Over time, I progressed from a Sony Reader to a Kindle Paperwhite, and I've curtailed my physical book buying to books from authors I particularly enjoy, or books I've read and truly loved. Those, I need to have as objects I can hold in my hand and not as a collection of bits and bytes. Plus, there's a limit to how many authors you can get to sign your Kindle