My Take on Traditional Books vs. E-readers

I recently cleaned out my to-read list on Goodreads and proceeded to look up every book that was left on Amazon, the Book Depository, and a Dutch webshop. That night, I ended up ordering three traditional books, and two ebooks. And then my friend asked surprised: “Why are you ordering physical books if you have an e-reader?”

My answer? “Because, books…?!”

Duh.

But later on, it made me think and I decided to write down the reasons why I sometimes choose traditional books and sometimes ebooks, and which I prefer.

The price

Insert a joke about cheap Dutch people here before you proceed to read along (and share the joke with me please, I love it).

Sometimes, paperbacks are cheaper than ebooks. Weird, huh? But yeah, in that case, I’d rather have a real, physical book that I can hold, smell, see, and put on my shelves.

Emotional value

There are just some books that I NEED to have in traditional form. This includes all Harry Potter books, for example (which I also have in e-form, by the way).

But I also recently put the physical book of ‘A Map of Days’ by Ransom Riggs (the fourth installment of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children) on my wishlist. Not because the series is one of my all-time favorites or because I love the writer so much, but because I already own the other three books.

(I do really like the series though.)

Easiness

I’d pick ebooks for really big books, just because it’s much easier to carry around with me, especially while traveling.

I mean, that’s the main reason I bought my Kindle after all.

But smaller paperbacks usually fit in my bag too and aren’t too heavy to hold while reading either.

A feeling

In 2016, I went on a holiday to Spain with my family. My stepmom and I brought a dozen books with us—and we still didn’t have enough.

I spent most of my time in Spain on the beach while reading. And I loved it. I swear, lying on the beach with an e-reader doesn’t nearly feel as good as a traditional book.

The book

While I can read all my books in ebook, sometimes you just know that you need to have this book in traditional form. Because you love the writer, because you just know you’re going to love this story, because the cover is stunning…

Traditional books vs. e-reader

I’ll forever choose traditional books over my e-reader. The smell, the sight of them, the feeling of holding them, it just can’t be beaten.

But I also really love my e-reader. It’s a lot lighter to carry, it easily fits in most of my purses, I can carry so many more books with me with more ease, it’s perfect for traveling, and it fits a lot better with my intended minimalism lifestyle…

I’m very happy with my traditional book/ebook mix, where I can have perks from both sides. I mostly use my e-reader on the go, while I read a physical book when I’m at home curled up on the couch or in bed.

Also, I just can’t resist bookstores and since they don’t sell ebooks, I don’t have a choice but to buy physical books.

Leave a comment and let me know your opinion on the traditional books/e-reader debate!

Petra