A Folio Format audit of 2024

On reviewing my reading for this year to date, I was astounded to find that 44 of the 64 books I have completed have been on kindle or audible.

Only 4 Folios to date!

11 paperbacks.

5 hardback.

Once upon a time I was most definitely averse to eBooks.

>1 LesMiserables: I like to feel a book in my hands and have it on the shelf thereafter so no eBooks for me this year. For whatever reason I haven't found my way into the world of audio books. I only "discovered" Folio Society late last year so there was plenty that caught my interest initially.

29 Paperback
28 Folio Society SE
8 Hardback
8 Fine Press (Including 1 Folio Society LE)
4 Other Quality Press (Including 1 Folio Society LE)
0 eBooks
0 Audio
77 Total

Reading stalled a bit this year. 😔

Folio SE: 5
Hardback: 3
Paperback: 4

Work: equivalent of 6,982 novels. 🥳

Since I'm on devices all day for work, I try to do my personal reading offline on decaying parchment. However, I think I read one eBook this year while on vacation, which was convenient.

55 out of 70 were read in print format. I prefer reading from the hard copy although I've had a Kindle device of one sort or another since 2008. Really, the Kindle is primarily useful if traveling or if one wants to quickly find a specific quote in the book itself.

>2 Pendrainllwyn: I retired in August this year, and my long suffering wife, bought me a Kindle scribe, which is nothing short of a miraculous piece of kit.

That probably explains in part, the weighted book part of my reading this year.

But, I'm inclined to read less contemporary stuff, rarely reading a book with a breathing author. So, ebooks from Delphi Classics are somewhat irresistible to me, and have collected complete works of the likes of Scott, Stevenson, Chesterton etc. At literally a minuscule fraction of the cost of a paperback, which are now becoming rather expensive.

Many books out of copyright you can find free at Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/

>6 LesMiserables:

Of course, I prefer real books, but I second Delphi Classics. A real bargain on "classic" authors' complete works. I have dozens on my phone and tablet which have stood me in good stead on trains, planes, and waiting rooms. And they sometimes include rare items not easily found in print.

>6 LesMiserables: >7 Cardboard_killer: >8 boldface:

That's really interesting. I didn't realise there are so many books available at such low/zero cost. For a one off cost of a Kindle I will save a fortune in books and P&P. There's not a large selection of English language books in HK so I have to ship internationally (with them not always arriving in good condition) and when I am in the UK and US I load up on books and haul them back.

I have already hinted to my better half what might make a great Xmas present!

Many thanks for prompting me to have a rethink.

I was an early adopter of ebooks, and they are still my preferred way of reading fiction. I have begun (gone back to?) collecting books recently and my particular criteria are that the book is one I liked/loved, the book is printed on archival quality paper, and the book is sown.

I will add that one of the things I like about ebooks is the ability to bookmark/annotate, something I hate to do with real books, even cheap paperbacks. I still don't do it very often, but it is nice to mark a great passage and not have to search for it years later.

In the last years I realised that audiobooks have taken over…this year I only have read three printed books so far. I have to change that.

There is a great ebook site:
https://standardebooks.org/

They have volunteers formatting the ebooks and they are really good and clean! No missing letters or such things.
Just public domain works of course

>11 woodstock8786: second standardebooks.org for common public domain works with clean formatting.

Another recommendation for standardebooks. It has the added benefit of offering books in a range of formats. Unfortunately, I am having to rely heavily on my Kobo at the moment as my library is presently in storage. The experience has demonstrated both the benefits and limitations of each. I far prefer physical books, but without access to ebooks my life at the moment would be much the poorer.

I was completely sold on ebooks the year I was camping in the mountains, bought a book and had it delivered instantly while I was in my tent. Of course, you need an upgrade to do that now unless there is wifi nearby.

I read 10 Folios, 10 trade books, and 9 fine press. By the end of the month it will be 10 fine press, for a nice (and completely unplanned) symmetry.

I had a large collection of paperbacks that I'd collected since I was in my early 20s. Then I got a kindle and found it to be extremely useful. It's very light, access to new books is instant and I especially loved the highlighting aspect, for non-fiction books in particular, and started reading exclusively on that. Then I moved to a smaller home and gave my paperback collection away to charity given I wasn't reading them at all in favour of the kindle. Then I discovered the folio society at the end of last year (and since then other presses too) and have started collecting books again, this time mostly hardbacks, mostly secondhand folios with some other presses mixed in.

I found that while its great to have a large database of highlights from books that the kindle gives me, the actual act of highlighting on kindle isnt as useful has having to paraphrase sections when writing by hand. My new approach is to have a stack of reference cards at hand, when im reading a physical book, where I'll copy quotes and write thoughts. The intention being that on a first read of a folio, or any other book, I'll use the cards exclusively and not mark the book. If I go back to the book a second time then I'll start annotating in the book itself because I'll know its a keeper in my collection for the long term.

I still use my kindle when I'm travelling, in the bath or just for books that I really want to read that dont have a nice version. I've started buying my non-fiction (philosophy in particular) books physical versions even if they dont have a nice press version just because of the more engaging act of writing notes by hand.

This year my breakdown is:
Kindle: 31
Folio: 35
Folio LE: 2
Other Presses: 2
Paperback: 4
Hardback: 1