I have a plethora of paper ARC's from BEA and some more from NYCC all lined up to be reviewed and then giveaway to all of you guys, because must share the book love. I just can't get through them. No matter how good they are, how much I love the authors, I still find myself putting down the books and picking up my kindle. What is wrong with me?
I decided to time myself, the ever problem solver that I am, in an attempt to figure out why it's so damn difficult for me to read paper books. I counted out 1000 words on a kindle, and then a 1000 on a paper and gave it a go. The results were astounding. I read a whopping 3x faster on a kindle screen, than paper. No wonder I keep putting it down, it's taking too damn long. Its no surprise to me that I've grown to read faster over the the time I've had my kindle, I am on my mark for 100 books read for the year. I have exponentially practiced more in one medium over the other. I find this rather disheartening.
Do you guys remember Alena Graedon? She wrote The Word Exchange that I went gaga over, and she recently shared an article where science proved we use a different part of our brains to read on paper vs screen. We engage more deeply with paper, but they didn't mention reading speeds. Oh well.
Either way, it's pissing me off.
In other, profoundly better news, here is a sneak of the giveaways to come!
Salt and Storm by Kendall Kulper
Zodiac by Romina Russell
The Forgotten Girl by David J. Bell
The First Bad Man by Miranda July
…and that's just a sneak.
Am I alone in this struggle? I can't be...
Toy maker. Mommy. Wife. Ravenous reader. Book blogger. Profanity user. This is a place for all of those things.
I always read faster on my kindle so I FEEL YOUR PAIN! I get these pretty hard copies and they sit and get sad on my book shelf. I'm a night time reader and my son still make me lay in his bed till he passes out so that is a big factor. My reading light still distracts him. Also I'm blind as a freakin bat!! Your not alone in this struggle!
ReplyDelete~Brittany @ Please Feed The Bookworm
PHEW! I am sorry to hear you know my pain, but glad to be in good company. I'm also a night time reader, I need the light of the kindle to not disturb my hubby who gets up very early for work. So that means if I want to read a paper, I have to relocate to the couch in which sometimes the lure of Netflix get's the better of me.
DeleteIt's funny because I think I actually read faster when I'm reading a print book (it feels like it anyway, I've never actually timed myself!) but I still prefer reading on my Kindle. For me the think I love about the Kindle is the text to speech option (I have an old fashioned Kindle Keyboard which I love so much that I bought a second one!). I seem to use it all the time to turn my ebooks into audiobooks but I never listen to the whole book so it would be pointless me spending a fortune buying a collection of audiobooks. I like the fact that I can turn text to speech on when I need my hands for something else so I can carry on listening to my book while I'm making dinner, doing housework or painting my nails etc. It makes reading much slower so when I'm sitting down I'll read properly rather than listen but being able to switch between the two options definitely makes me prefer reading on my kindle than a print book. I now get frustrated when I have to put the print book down to do something else LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm a little jealous on two counts - one, obvi the paper reading speed and two, you can listen to audio books! My brain just shuts off… or something. I immediately start day dreaming, doodling, and 20 minutes breezes by and I haven't heard a word that was said.
DeleteI co-host a feature with Brittersweet (see above) where we tell people what we are reading, and why, and what we are choosing next from our tbr pile, and why. My last feature post was exactly about this because I received a physical ARC of Stone in the Sky one of my most highly anticipated sequels (probably second on the list) and I have read maybe 50 some pages in over two weeks. Why? Because it is a paper book and I really favor my Kindle now. I just can't get comfortable, especially in bed where I think I get most of my reading done. I should just put it down and start an ebook, but I was the very first person to be given an ARC and I love this author so much, I wanted to be the first person to review it. Even though I highly doubt that is going to happen now, I feel guilty about starting another book before I finish Stone in the Sky. My favorite route is to read the ebook and then buy the hardcover for my shelves if I truely love it.
ReplyDeleteI could have written that, we are in the exact same position. I keep hoping I find some of these paper ARC's I have to show up on NG so I can finally read them. It makes me sad but everything you said about being comfortable is too true.
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