I plead guilty. It’s a long weekend for me (well, it always is a long weekend for me because I don’t have classes on Mondays) and I just finished Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach. I couldn’t put it down. Man, Cach is the goddess of awesome! And you guys know what else happened aside from my finishing Wake Unto Me? Nothing much…I just have a zillion ebooks in my laptop waiting to be read. They hail from Netgalley, Simon and Schuster Galley Grab and several authors. It has been a very busy week for me. I wake up at 5 or 7 in the morning and get home at 5 or 6, usually around the time when the sky is a pretty mixture of pink and tangerine. At this rate, it’s really difficult for me to read ebooks but I still accept them because I don’t want to let the opportunity of reading these great titles go to waste.
I am very eager to read the majority of these ebooks, including Cryer’s Cross (currently reading), Wither, The Lost Voices, Lipstick Laws, Awaken, Populazzi, In the Arms of Stone Angels, Haven, Darkness Becomes Her and many more. After reading great things about these titles, how could I not want to read them? But the thing is…I don’t exactly know how to do that. I read real books faster than ebooks because of two things:
- I’m not using the laptop all the time and if I do, I write posts, blog, go to Twitter and FB, and email. I admit that I really get tempted and distracted by networking sites – especially Twitter – that I stop reading whatever ebook I’m reading.
- I tend to prioritize reading real books over ebooks. I like to read something that gives me this complete reading experience. I want to read something that I can hold, that has pages that I can turn (and not just click-click-click.)
I know it’s my fault. But it’s done. There’s no use focusing on the time I lost or the amount of ebooks in my TBR pile right now. I don’t even want to count all of them because I’d really panic then. What I want to focus on is how I would manage to finish an ebook in a fairly short time. I see that lots of bloggers manage to do this and I have no idea how they do that! It amazes me to know that they read both real books and ebooks and have the reviews up at the end of the week.
What should I do to manage to read a real book and an ebook at the same time? Can you give me tips on how to do this?
PS. I would really, really appreciate this. Thank you!
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I know how you feel! I have tons of e-books too! Most of my netgalley ebooks are even about to expire!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this'll work for you, but since the start of the year, I made a schedule for ALL the books I got, may they be real books or e-books, and created a "read and review" schedule for each month. I try to make it so that I switch from a real book and then an ebook next and stick to the schedule as much as I can. Its working so far. I hope that helps :)
I'm a college student as well and what I do is, since I take my laptop with me to classes, read e-books when I'm out and about during the day (on the bus on my way to class, between classes, etc.) and read real books when I'm at home. But this is an interesting question that I will look for answers to, too =) Good luck!
ReplyDelete@Kai Oh, I did a reading schedule for December but I stopped there. Thanks! That's a really good idea. Hmm...maybe I'll make a deal with myself that if I stick with the reading schedule, I get something for myself.
ReplyDelete@Aliyah Thank you for the suggestion! It would really help if I could bring my laptop to school everyday but...due to 'risks' here in my place, I don't dare bring the laptop with me while I'm commuting. Too risky and too tempting for potential thieves. :) Looks like you're doing a good job reading ebooks and real books! I do the opposite of what you do. I read real books in school and ebooks at home!
You didn't mention an ereader itself and I don't know if this is a possibility financially or not, but I found I was a lot better when I got my ereader. When I just had them sitting on my laptop, I was really bad at reading ebooks, but as soon as I got my ereader and could download them there, it was so much easier. I just found after using a computer all day at work, the last thing I wanted to do was read a book off my laptop. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate. Some days I'm ok with reading an eBook and than I simply can't, because it feels as if I might go blind reading on the computer screen.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I think buying myself an eReader is the only option, but right now I don't want to throw my money on one. And to be honest I do prefer the "real thing", you know, those things with pages that can be turned, too.
@ kai (amaterasu): Don't ask me about MY NetGalley books ... eeek!!
I think ebooks are good when you have an ereader. I had to stop reading Wither because of my poor eyes.
ReplyDeletel couldn't sit at my laptop all the time and read e books. Which is why l got my kindle and l love reading on it.
ReplyDeleteIt's so much easier to read on than a laptop or a book because your not having to use both hands (like with a real book)
I know how you feel about the real reading experience but kindles are so worth it. I do miss lots of books when the covers are amazing but l still buy books and get them from the library!
I probably can't offer much advice, since I usually shy away from reading ebooks - same as Reading Lassie, too stressful of my eyes! But if using your laptop to read an ebook is too distracting, you could try disconnecting the internet for a few hours in hope that might lessen the urge to check twitter and whatnot (since we know how addicting that is!).
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe, as painful as it is to do, try limit the number of ebooks you accept/request. Only choose those that are ranked really high on your to-read list, most intrigued to read or can't get in paper form from the library or somewhere. But with the amount of amazing books out there.... gah! I can see your dilemma! Hope you're able to figure out a system that will work!
Wow... you are swamped with ARCs!!! Can't even tell you how much I appreciate you putting Populazzi on the list -- especially when the book pile can be so overwhelming!
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the above commenter who suggested an e-reader. I use the iPad, and even though I was dubious at first (and it will never replace a real book), it has a terrific "book feel" to it and makes things very easy to read.
Oh I hear you about the distractions of the internet! I like the suggestion about disconnecting from the internet.
ReplyDeleteI don't have an e-reader, so I end up reading my e-books on my laptop. It's ok and doesn't bother my eyes, but I can't bring it with me when I leave the house.
I try to do my paper book reading when I'm out. I have a lot of time at work where I can read. I try to give myself about an hour each evening to read my e-books. After a certain time at night I try to tell myself enough with the internet and I try to stay away from it.
I also don't accept long e-books. I try to keep them at fewer than 300 pages.