Tag: ebooks

AllDiscussion

My Digital Library is Out of Control | A DISCUSSION

Posted on by J.W. Martin

I have a problem. And I clearly need help.

Am I alone?

We all have massive TBRs, right? (right??) And we all have books on our bookshelf, right? (I’m not alone, am I?) And those of us who like/don’t mind eBooks are bound to have a few titles on our reading devices that haven’t been read (or opened…)

Yeah… Well… I was looking through mine the other day, and starting sorting into read and unread. THERE ARE OVER 100 UNREAD BOOKS IN MY KINDLE APP!!!

How did this happen? I don’t even have all those titles on my TBR, but there they are, waiting to be read. You’d think that would send me into a tailspin where I’d lock down on eBooks. No more buying. DON’T EVEN LOOK! But, no. I went a browsed Amazon’s deal store in the middle of writing this post! I have a problem!

Mainly, I blame Book Riot and BookBub, though there are a few more culprits lurking out there on the internet. A bunch of my books were free downloads, a lot of them $1-$2 deals. 

How do you turn down a book that sounds awesome is only a buck or two? How do you turn down books that sound great and are Free-99?

So how do other people deal with this addiction hobby? 

Fun fact about this post: Almost bought a digital set of books (4 of them!) in the middle of writing this, then I remembered WHY I was writing this and closed my browser completely.

Discussion

Discussion – What Counts toward a Reading Challenge?

Posted on by J.W. Martin

What counts as a book?

I’m sure this has been addressed several hundred times, but I feel like it warrants another discussion.

I know, I know! It shouldn’t be important what other people think, especially when something like the Goodreads Reading Challenge is just a personal goal that I set. And I guess in the end it doesn’t matter (that’s right I said it! Wanna fight about it?)

I’m curious, though. I’d like to know what the general consensus is when it comes to things like the Goodreads Reading Challenge.

So let’s break it down:

Plain old regular dead-tree books

My favorite kind and an obvious ‘yes!’ If there are people out there saying these don’t count, what the heck are they reading? Stone tablets brought down from a mountain top by an old man with a white beard? And what does Santa have to do with all of this anyway?

Magically digital books of the electronic variety

I can’t imagine eBooks wouldn’t count, either. They’re absorbed the same way, but dead trees are replace by silicon and liquid crystal. Sounds far more glamorous than it is.

Books that go into your earhole

Audiobooks is where the line starts to get fuzzy for me. They take longer compared to the speed of most readers, but at the same time its usually faster to get through one since you can multitask. Ever tried to work an 8-hour shift at a desk job while reading a paperback? Not saying it’s impossible, but… okay, maybe it’s impossible unless you have no problem with being fired or stumbled into the best job ever.

Pretty-pretty picture books

Graphic novels are even fuzzier. They’re usually half as many pages as the average novel, and there isn’t near as much reading per page. It’s probably closer to reading a short story.

I enjoy all of the above formats, so nothing will make me stop reading any of them. But I want to know what you think. Which count? Which don’t? And why?