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Physical and Digital, Written and Audio

cell phone with earbuds attached resting on top of Bibles

As I am thinking of which books to read and review, I am struck by the myriad of options I possess. Admittedly, I am probably more overwhelmed now that I would have been in the past. A few decades ago, my TBR pile would literally be a pile. Now? I have books on the go on Libby, Audible, and Kindle (Kobo is still a question mark for me). This is alongside my physical piles, including my library books and the books on the nightstand, coffee table, and bookshelves. I've been tempted to add a TBR book cart as well on top of all this, but am now wondering if that may be over the top -- or maybe not as I did find one in a colour I like 😉

It makes me think of the best ways to enjoy a book, whether it's physical or digital, and whether it's printed text or the spoken word. I discovered quite young that I am not an auditory learner so the past few years of listening to audiobooks has been an experiment in trying to absorb information in a different medium. Through input from others and self-discovery, I have discovered that:

  • If I speed up the pace of the book to anywhere between 1.5x to 2.5x, it makes the book much more enjoyable. I aim for 1.5x if it's a heady topic or if the speaker has a different accent. 2.5x has been helpful for more simple books I'm just pounding through.
  • It's best if I pair audiobooks with chores or other mindless work. I once had to finish some audio books and do something else at the same time, and realized that multi-tasking in that case really did not work.
  • I much prefer listening to non-fiction over fiction. When I first started listening to audiobooks, it was exclusively for non-fiction content. I've gradually introduced fiction over the years, but it's a struggle in trying not to miss story details. The one time I don't mind is when the book is read in a different accent and it's more the experience than everything about the story (such as The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner - not a Christian book but the narration is not-to-miss).

On the other hand, there have been plenty of times when I wish I could just have a book in hand and plenty of uninterrupted time. This may be why I have gravitated toward a lot of e-reading so that I can catch snippets of chapters where I can. Most of the time, the format that I enjoy a book in has depended on its availability. When there are more options that I can choose from, my order of preference seems to be:

  • Christian fiction: physical book > e-book (with audiobook as a close second if it's especially heralded narration)
  • Christian non-fiction: physical book > audiobook > e-book
  • non-Christian fiction: audiobook > e-book > physical book (more so because I don't buy many of these titles and the ones from the library tend to have long wait times)
  • non-Christian non-fiction: audiobook > physical book > e-book

Although this might not be the case for all Christian books, it looks as though I place a greater importance on having those ones in my hands. As for other content that I only want to consume quickly, I have reverted to audio books as a way to speed up that process. I acknowledge that retention can be quite low for me in that sense, which is why I still pursue physical books where possible, namely in adding to my library as opposed to library books themselves. I'm not sure if it's an outcome of the pandemic, but I have noticed some library books becoming worse for wear, making e-books a more hygienic version, shall we say? I do clean my own books before placing them on the bookshelves, but that might be a lot for library books! That being said, I hope that my reviews will be able to touch on all of the above formats, which is why I used the word "and" and not "or". There is beauty in being able to enjoy all facets of reading, and I am especially grateful that technology can assist in this process.

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