Readers are picky people. We are loyal to our paperbacks, hardcovers, or e-books, and often will not buy a new book until it is in our preferred format. Then, of course, there are others who are ‘hybrid’ readers. Hybrid readers will happily read one book on their Kindle and the next in physical form. So what kind of reader are you?
I think I definitely qualify as a hybrid reader, but am very loyal to my beloved paperbacks. I have to admit, I was definitely swept up in the e-book trend around 2010. I loved (and still love) my Kindle, particularly for getting free classics. Kindle-madness didn’t last too long for me though, and I’ve migrated back to physical books. These days, I much prefer to read physical books and really only buy paperbacks. I’ll pick up the odd hardcover, something I’m doing much more often these days, but am patient enough (sometimes) to wait for the paperback. I find reading physical books much easier for me.
Becoming a blogger has absolutely changed the way I read books. I buy many more hardcover books because I hear about them through other bloggers and social media and get excited. I picked up A Closed and Common Orbit in hardcover in February after reading and loving The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which I heard about through social media. A Closed and Common Orbit came out in paperback today, and I probably would have waited for it if I hadn’t been surrounded by the well-deserved hype for the first book.
Digital ARCs are key for book bloggers, and my Kindle goes everywhere with me. While I have a dedicated e-reader rather than a tablet, I find that I get much more distracted when I read off a Kindle. Does this happen to anyone else? I sometimes find that I’ll spend four or five days reading a book I love on the Kindle that probably would have taken a day or two if I read it as a paperback. When Dimple Met Rishi is the most recent example of this. I would have devoured this book in a single evening — probably staying up well past my bedtime — in order to finish it if I read the physical copy. Instead, it took me four days to read it on my Kindle. Long books are especially difficult for me to read on an e-reader. I finished Red Sister in about two and a half weeks when it should have taken me half the time.
I Should Read That 
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