(e)Books vs. Audiobooks

Now that I have some time before my job starts, I have somewhat of a mini summer vacation to tuck into to some books. Every summer while I was an undergrad, I was either taking class or interning or both, so it’s nice to have a few weeks to relax and not think about studying.

I’ve picked up a few new books to read, including Mindy Kaling’s “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” and “Forrest Gump” (the book before the movie). I read most of my books on my iPad now since it’s faster to download them and it’s cheaper than buying a physical book. I also have a bad habit of reading several books at the same time so it’s nice not having to carry around three different books.

I find that I still have a strange nostalgia towards certain books. I’ve reread the entire Harry Potter series a few times through and even though I have them as eBooks, I still reach for the hardcover books I own when I feel like reading them again. I guess it’s because I associate certain memories with reading those books like when my sister and I read the entire 7^th book in the car after we bought it, switching off every chapter so that no one would get ahead. Or reading the 4^th book in a shopping cart at Costco while my mom pushed us around. I don’t get so attached to my eBooks, maybe because I haven’t had as much time to read or maybe I can only really read on my iPad indoors because of the backlighting so there isn’t as much opportunity to run around with my “books.”

Last year, I also started listening to audiobooks. I was hesitant to do so at first because I’m usually pretty restless and find it hard to concentrate on one single thing for long periods of time. As I’m writing this post, I’m watching Video Game High School (which is an incredible movie. I highly recommend it. Incredible in a "completely funded by Kickstarter and created by YouTube stars" kind of way. Just watch it.), I have a Photoshop file open for this post, I occasionally scroll through Tumblr, and I’m building a new playlist on Spotify (follow me here!). Something about our millenials I guess - the generation of multitaskers. I’ve found that I like listening to audiobooks as I fall asleep. It’s the only time where I have nothing else to think about and can just listen to the book. But the problem is, it’s hard for me to listen to “new books” – i.e. books I haven’t read before. I’ve listened to series that I’ve read at least once, like “The Hunger Games,” or “The Great Gatsy,” or more recently, the entire “Series of Unfortunate Events.” But listening to a new book makes me anxious because I feel the need to stay up and not miss a detail. Listening to a book I’ve read before helps lull me to sleep, and it makes for some pretty awesome dreams too!

What do you prefer? A hardcover book? An eBook? An audiobook?

Which would you rather? I'm going to go ahead and say this is one of my weaker Photoshop attempts...