A bit of a surprise

[ottdmk]

So, I finished my latest epub download from my local library tonight and started thinking "What should I read next?" And I remembered that I had a few paperbacks from the last time I indulged in a Chapters "Buy 3 get 4" sale and I should probably get around to reading them.

So I went hunting in my bookshelf, and pulled out Tad Williams' Shadowmarch.

Now, you have to understand: I've been doing a *lot* of reading the past couple of years. But ever since my wife got me a Kobo Touch for Christmas 2011 it's been almost exclusively on the Touch.

Williams does not do small books. Shadowmarch is well over 800 pages. He's a favourite author of mine, but in some ways I am not looking forward to reading this. Because of the format.

I've been completely spoiled by my e-reader. The paperback weighs more then my Touch. I certainly can't hold it in one hand. I have to do minor things like remembering to put in a bookmark (or remembering which page I'm on.)

I swear, if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd spend a couple of thousand buying epub versions of my paperbacks. I don't know if I'll ever buy a paperback again. I have no use for the format anymore.

Just came as a bit of a surprise to realize that. I hadn't thought it through before.

[FizzyWater]

Yep!

It slowly happened for me, where I found that I was reading fewer and fewer print books, and some of slowness might have been because I first started reading ebooks in 2003, so a lot of the books I wanted weren't available digitally at first.

[Fluribus]

I still love the behemoths, hardcore hardcovers, I simply don't have room for them.

[Katsunami]

Funny, I was thinking about this yesterday. I've sold my first e-reader because it wasn't a book, and because a lot of stuff wasn't yet available as an e-book in 2007.

Now, I've become used to my e-reader. I'm re-reading James Clavell's Shogun, which I also have as a hardcover. Yesterday I tried reading a chapter in the real book... and... I hated it. The book is huge, a 1000 page (edit: almost) behemoth, larger than any paperback I have, and it weighs a ton. To read for extended amounts of time in such a book, I need to put it down, or support it somehow, which I don't need to do with the Kindle.

I also have another book which I want to re-read, but of which there is no e-book available. I'm finding that I'm actively postponing this re-read, as this book is even bigger than Shogun... (I have this book twice, even: once as a gift, in a Dutch version, and once bought in English.)

The strange thing is, that, while I now prefer to read e-books, I still *like* books as objects. I can see myself selling all my paperbacks, and then buying hardcovers of books I really like to build a (modest) book case, but never reading them, as I'll have all of them as an e-book.

[bookaho!ic]

I have to agree with you guys, i have lots of books on my keepers bookcase and as soon as I have the monies i will be purchasing them on epub versions so i can re read when i want without breaking my wrist or feeling clumsy

[Dr. Drib]

What's the name of this book that's thicker than 'Shogun'?

---Really curious, since I like big, thick novels.




Don

[Katsunami]

Musashi. By Eji Yoshikawa.

My version of Shogun is 927 pages. Musashi is 984 pages. However, the font in Musashi is smaller, and the pages are thinner. (Think Bible-like pages.) The books are about the same size and weight.

Musashi

By the way: The Shogun mini-series with Richard Chamberlain is a good translation of the book. Also, the Musashi movies (non-creative Japanese name: "Samurai I, II and III...) are good too, IF you can find all three parts, in good quality, with English subs. I was lucky on ebay, two years ago. Note: Toshiro Mifune plays a lead role in both movies series. He plays Musashi in Musashi, and Toranaga in Shogun.

Oh, I also have the hardcover version of Stephen King's IT. It's also a little bit thicker than Shogun, as is the first of Salvatore's Drizzt quadrilogies. (I have those in paperback.) My copy of LotR (hardcover) has 1401 pages. I shudder to read that again in paper

edit: And yes, the Eji Yoshikawa books, including Musashi, can easily be found as epubs, and the OCR seems to be very good. However, the layout is crap. I have all three books in hardcover, for years already. I actually read Musashi in Dutch first. It was a gift. (IN DUTCH. WACK. Where "Musashi" is spelled "Moesasji".)

I know exactly what you mean. I went to a friend's house for a cuppa and saw that she had Bryce Courtenay's Jack Of Diamonds in hardcover on her bookshelf - it was a mammoth of a thing! I had read it myself on my ereader, so it surprised me to find out exactly how big it was.

Furthermore, I was reading The Eye Of The World when my ereader needed to be charged, so I picked up the paperback, which I hadn't even touched since I started using an ereader. It's only 814 pages - quite a bit smaller than the other books mentioned in this thread! - but it was such a bother to handle. I needed to use both hands, so I couldn't set it on my lap and work on something else while I read, nor could I eat while I read... and then I couldn't find a bookmark!

[soulfuldog]

It only took about a month of reading on my Kindle to glance at my paperbacks in distaste! I'd been given a couple of books as a gift and hadn't gotten round to reading one of them before getting my Kindle. Even after just a few weeks of using an ereader, I found it terribly irritating having to hold the book open, or rest it on my lap to be able to turn pages with one hand.... would never go back now!

[Catlady]

I don't like paperbacks, but I still love hardcovers.

[Greg Anos]

It's not just the form factor (although I won't read paper any more, unless it's a magazine on a plane - for takeoffs and landings.)

I can take my whole library with me. (To paraphrase Salvador Dali - What does RSE want to read today...)

[DrNefario]

Kind of the other way round for me. I thought I'd gone off paper books, but I've been reading quite a few lately and I'm totally fine with them. Really big books are a problem, but mostly I'm kind of indifferent.

[cfrizz]

I stopped buying paper backs years ago since I had long since run out of room. When I moved in 2008, most of my books went into the trash with me just keeping a small 3 shelf book case of my favorites. I haven't re-read any of them in years. I do have some of them as ebooks, but the majority aren't but I won't read them simply because the print is simply to much of a strain for me to read.

If the copy services offered an epub instead of pdf, I might consider sending them out to be converted.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by book_goddess

I know exactly what you mean. I went to a friend's house for a cuppa and saw that she had Bryce Courtenay's Jack Of Diamonds in hardcover on her bookshelf - it was a mammoth of a thing! I had read it myself on my ereader, so it surprised me to find out exactly how big it was.

Furthermore, I was reading The Eye Of The World when my ereader needed to be charged, so I picked up the paperback, which I hadn't even touched since I started using an ereader. It's only 814 pages - quite a bit smaller than the other books mentioned in this thread! - but it was such a bother to handle. I needed to use both hands, so I couldn't set it on my lap and work on something else while I read, nor could I eat while I read... and then I couldn't find a bookmark!

Oh yes those are very big books. I still have them on my book case and want to re-read some day to get to the new stuff but wow big books, tiny print.

Paper books do serve a useful purpose, though. I picked up two Dean Koontz books at the used book store. Cheaper than the ebooks would have been. They're in nice condition too and the print is not too small.

[Xanthe]

What has really spoiled me is the ability to adjust the font sizes with ereaders.