Weekend-Engagement #295: Would you rather read a book or listen to one as an audio book and why?

If I have to choose between a physical book and an audiobook, for me there is no contest, I go with the physical book.
There is nothing more satisfying than sitting down or why not lying down with a book in your hands, with the pleasure of having something physical in a world that is now completely virtual, the tactile feedback, the sound of the pages being turned... Someone would also add the smell of paper, but that is not my case, that leaves me indifferent.

The physical book is really the way I like to savor a story. With a physical book I can go at the reading speed I want, I am very fast at reading, so an audiobook would feel slow and maybe I would get impatient.
This way instead I can read quickly when I am immersed in an exciting passage... It is also true the opposite, that is if a sentence strikes me or something leaves me puzzled, I can stop and reflect...

But I can also go back, reread a part I did not remember, either because I had to interrupt the reading for a few days or to double check a detail and I can do it quickly and with precision.
Being able to reflect while I read is something I cannot manage to obtain with audiobooks. With a physical book I feel that I have my own time in which the story is completely under my control, I can go back and forth as is possible whenever I want, at the speed I want.

Moreover, there is a tactile satisfaction that the audiobook cannot give you. Turning the pages, hearing the noise the paper makes when you turn them, seeing the part of the book you have left become smaller and smaller is something that makes everything more real and concrete, especially in the fully digital era we are living in.

As for genres, I am more interested in crime novels and historical books, especially those that talk about battles, weapons and the great wars of the past, in particular the first and second world war. I have read many books by Angela Marsons (I am not writing the titles, the English Italian translations are totally messed up), the English writer who created the character of Kim Stone, a detective who has to solve violent crimes... I find her books very gripping and intriguing, they make you want to keep reading to see how the story continues.

As for historical books, I am fascinated by reading about how great armies clashed in the past, about strategies, about weapons... But also the points of view and the stories of the soldiers who took part, their testimonies are of great value. It is a type of reading that makes you think about how history is made of choices that, added together, change the course of events.

Audiobooks in my opinion are fine when you do not have time to read, when you are driving or doing some other work, but for me reading requires contact with the book, with the paper, with the time that I dedicate to reading the words

Post in response to @galenkp Weekend-Engagement topics: WEEK295