For the book readers out there - E-readers versus “Real” Books

There’s a book exchange here at the BLM Roadrunner camp host site. When the camp host is home, she has books setting on the picnic table near her trailer with a sign “take a book and/or leave a book”. I was excited to see that (I love books), even though I have LOTS of free ebooks downloaded on my ipad. There’s still something about holding and reading a paper book. I don’t know, maybe it’s all psychological. I keep some books in our RV specifically for places that have exchanges. 

Before we started the fulltime life, I had books at home (even stored in boxes) and was able to use our local library whenever I wanted. But you know what, with working full time staring at the computer all day, I really didn’t read much. Now that I’ve got time, I read a lot. And like I said, I’ve got lots of books downloaded, but I still like the actual paper book to read. For one, the ipad is really hard to use outside. There’s a lot of glare. I’ve heard that the Kindles are better in that regard. When we bought the ipad though, we decided to go with the ability to use it as a computer also. There’s a lot of ereaders out there.

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Interesting article - 92 percent of students prefer physical books to e-readers.

If you search free ebooks on Google, you’ll get pages of sites. Most of the sites have free and reduced prices. Some you can sign up for their e-mail list and get their daily updates. They’re easy to download with the Kindle app. If you like the book, you can keep it. If not, it can easily be deleted from the ipad. 

The Kindle app is the one I use most for the books. That’s how they’re downloaded from Amazon, and stored in the Kindle library on my ipad. Another app I have is Nook; this is through Barnes & Noble. Overdrive is another app, which connects with my local library, and I am able to read ebooks through them. When I’m finished reading, the book gets returned to the library. Sometimes you have to wait a while to get the newer books. My library also has audio books to use, but I’ve never tried one.

If you’re a book nerd like me, you can keep track of your books on a site like Goodreads. (There are other sites, but this is the use I use.) It has “shelves” that the books get sorted in to.

 

It starts with “all”, “read”, “currently-reading” and “to-read”. You can add whatever shelves you want to divide them in to. On Goodreads you can also do reviews if you wish. Before I download a book, I see what the reviews are on Amazon and Goodreads. You can befriend people. There are recommendations of books based on what you read. There are even give-aways you can sign up for. I’ve never won anything, but my daughter-in-law has. It may be because she has a book blog. But I’ve stopped signing up simply because you need an address. The problem with a traveling life is that your mail/packages have to eventually catch up with you. If the book is sent to my mail address, then I pay postage to have it sent to wherever I’m at. We do that with our mail once a month, but not packages. We’ve had packages sent general delivery to where we’re at, but I don’t think that would work for Goodreads.

For paper books, you can exchange at some campgrounds. Of course, there are libraries, thrift stores, book stores and the internet. We’ve recently found Little Free Libraries. 

    They’re set up at businesses or peoples houses as a book exchange site. The web site has a map that you can enter in addresses and see if there are any near you. We haven’t stopped at a lot of them, simply because they’re usually in residential areas and Curt not wanting to drive there with the motorhome. If we’re staying in the area, then we can use the jeep.

So, back to the basic question – which is better? It's a matter of preference and there’s a lot of options either way.




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