how do you read?

a while back i wrote about books on tape; i'm sure it was only interesting to super nerds like me. unfortunately for the non-nerds, i'm at it again. this time, though, i want to talk about the different ways you can read -- audiobook, ebook, and bookbook -- and the pros & cons of those options. 

because i'm such a nerd, i seem to always be reading multiple books at once. but i like to keep my options open so normally those books are in different forms.

like right now, i am reading 3 books at once:

perfume is a bookbook. stone cold is an ebook. and escape from camp 14 is an audiobook.

part of the reason i'm reading so many different books at once is because i'm attemping to read 52 books again this year (check out my progress!). but another reason is because each kind of book has it's advantages (and it's disadvantages).

for example, bookbook's are awesome. you get to hold the book in your hand, mark it up, fold down the page, write in the margin, and it can sit on your shelf for whenever you need to reference it or for when you want to read it again. they are the classic, the original. and, in a lot of ways, they can't be beat.

but they can be bulky and difficult to travel with. i mean, who wants to carry about 16 books when they're travelling? (that's standard reading for my mom when she's sitting on a beach, but she hates having to carry them with her). at the same time though, they're the perfect companion on the beach -- you can get sand in them and nothing will go wrong. it's for this reason that i go to the library before i travel and buy $1 books to take with me; i just leave them when i'm done so the next person can enjoy them.

my mom, however, has jumped full hilt into the wonderful world of ebooks. she reads a lot. like a lot a lot. so the kindle is perfect for her, especially when travelling. but i think ebooks are just not the same as bookbooks -- you still flip the page, but it's more of a swipe, and you have to do it way more often than with a bookbook. all of that being said, ebooks are definitely convenient. i keep at least one ebook on my phone at all times so that whenever i'm waiting somewhere i'll have something to read. it really comes in handy.

another handy book form is the audiobook, especially when you're driving long distances, stuck in traffic, or totally bored of the music on the radio. but, like i mentioned before, audiobooks can be difficult to listen to sometimes; you can get easily distracted or bored while listening and lose your place in the story. or worse yet, the audiobook can put you to sleep.


do you prefer audiobooks, ebooks, or bookbooks?
how do you read?