How Do You Like to Read Your Books?

By: Ebonye Gussine Wilkins

As you already know, I love to read. I read cereal boxes, novels, textbooks, fine print, advertisements, brochures, blogs, and websites. Except for my beloved sitcoms, and the news, I generally prefer reading to watching videos (Sorry YouTube). I own a bunch of books (probably not nearly as many as you do, but my bookcase is overflowing) but I also own a third-generation Kindle. You know, the kind that had a keyboard and Wifi, but no advertisements? It’s still in black and white, but I love it all the same. For me, it stripped words down to the bare minimum—and I loved the built-in dictionary. My heavy collegiate dictionary still gets significant use when I’m editing, but when I’m just trying to enjoy reading, the built-in dictionary is quite handy.

That being said, I still have a very soft spot for hard-copy books. I love paperbacks, but I love a good hard cover book too. My favorite novels have soft pages from my reading them over and over again, and it’s one of my favorite things about hard copy books. You can tell which books are my favorites because the pages feel smooth and well-worn, just like my favorite jeans. They’ve got a bunch of dog-eared marks from when I’ve stopped reading (when I could get myself to stop reading) and they just feel like they’ve been loved. They are my old friends who can never let me down, because they are always there, waiting for me to visit again.

I’ve noticed that when buying books, more times than not, I opt for the paperback. If I need information quickly (usually how-to books) I might buy them for my Kindle, because I need that information now. But for fiction, paperbacks remain king in my household, and it’s because I still rather treasure the experience of reading a book. Whether I’m sitting in a quiet corner while my family is asleep, or if I’m ignoring the roar of the subway around me, I can still enjoy a book.

Do you prefer one medium over another? How do you like to read books?