It’s day ten of Blogvember. I’m following the prompts from Andrew Canion, which can be found here.

When life gets busy (and it sure seems to have a nasty habit of doing that), quite often one of the things that suffers for me is reading. Writing does as well, but reading even more so, I think. Over the last few years, as I’ve slowly sought to untangle the mess that social media created with my sense of time, I’ve gotten back into the habit of reading again.

While I very occasionally enjoy an audiobook, I’m very particular about them. I usually prefer them to be read by the author, and depending on the production of them, they can be an interesting way to share the story. The most recent example that comes to mind is Heather B. Armstrong’s latest book, The Valedictorian of Being Dead. It was incredibly powerful to hear her read that, and astonishing to think of how much it took for her to read it after having completed her treatment.

Mostly, though, I like reading the words myself, and being the narrator voice in my own head. I mix up my reading between physical (“dead-tree” edition books) and e-books. There’s something I love about the feeling of a book in my hand, and feeling the shifting of the weight as I progress through it. There’s also something I love about the convenience of having a whole library of books on an e-book reader (or my phone, depending on where I am). When I travel, I favor traveling as light as possible, so e-books really shine.

Luckily, this isn’t an either/or decision. Nowadays, I most often check out e-books or physical books from the library, and don’t worry about owning any except the ones I know I’m likely to read again. This supports an essential part of our public world and also helps keep my spending to a minimum.