Like many others, I tend to prefer reading physical books most of the time. However, whenever I have to travel, I love the convenience of being able to read on my Kindle - both for the tiny amount of space it takes up in my bag, and for the giant number of books I can store on there. At the beginning of every month, Amazon sends out an email to Prime members, letting you choose a kindle version of a book for free. They usually have 5-6 different options and they display the cover and a quick summary in the email. I have read books I never would have picked up before simply because I had free access to them with just the click of one button. (To be completely honest, sometimes the books they offer for free are not so good - either the plot or the actual editing, but sometimes there are winners in there!)
Another appeal of ebooks, to me, is that when a new title is released and the library only has so many copies, you can sometimes be on hold for a very long time before your turn comes up. In this kind of situation, I check to see if there is an ebook version of the title available. Also, more than once, my kids have forgotten books needed for Language Arts homework at school and we don’t discover that until Sunday when the libraries around here are closed. We have usually been able to check out ebook versions of the titles they need so they can access the text for their homework. So nice!
I learned early on in my life as a parent that audiobooks were the key to road trips without my kids fighting. Over the years we have listened to countless books in the car - sometimes for long road trips where we finish an entire 8-hour book in one day, and sometimes just to and from school where it takes us months to get through a story. At first we were limited to the audiobooks that our local library carried on CD, but then when libraries started offering audiobooks to download through Libby, we primarily started using that. It used to be frustrating to be mid-way through a story on CD to discover that the next CD was scratched and we couldn’t hear that part of the story. I love that a digital download eliminates that issue.
Audiobooks are also really great for people who don’t love to sit down and read. My son has always been a reluctant reader, and listening to audiobooks has been a way for him to hear stories that he never would have chosen to read on his own. Here are some of our favorites we have listened to over the years in the car:
The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale
The Willow Falls series by Wendy Mass, narrated by Kathleen McInerney
Bounce by Megan Shull, narrated by Caitlin Davies
The Candymakers by Wendy Mass, narrated by Mark Turetsky
The Emerald Atlas series by John Stephens, narrated by Jim Dale
Hi Sara,
ReplyDeleteMy parents used to play audiobooks in the car and it definitely kept us entertained instead of fighting. It grew my love for certain books as well. I'll never forget listening to the Chronicles of Narnia. There was a lot of production with music and different voices put into them. So much so that my youngest brother would get scared at certain points. I love that audiobooks can make family memories and introduce kids to new books while on what might have otherwise been a boring road trip.
Hi Christina,
DeleteThanks for your comment. That's great that you have such fond memories of listening to The Chronicles of Narnia in the car. I read those books years ago, but haven't checked out the audio versions. I'll add those to our TBR list for the car (To Be Listened To?)
Sara,
ReplyDeleteFor me, I like to go back in time and access the various out-of-print book scans and not worry about paying exorbitant amount of money for the privilege. One of the big benefits of the digital format is that it can perfectly and effortlessly backup, store and duplicate precious information like obscure titles and give them out to the world for anyone to read. Archive.org is doing a great job it upholding this service. Like you, I still prefer the traditional form and there is something magical about holding an obscure hundred year old library book that has been is storage for decades and feeling like you might have stumbled across a buried treasure that few know about.
I also prefer physical books over ebooks as they are much better on the eyes for me. Granted, I am aware that there are settings to help with that but at the end of the day, holding a physical book is much better in my opinion. However, you make a really good point about if a child forgets to get a book for a project and it's on a day they can't go to the library to get it then an ebook version being available would really help out.
ReplyDeleteGreat response! I love that you included some of your audiobook favorites. Full points!
ReplyDelete