Does size matter?

[pbray]

When I was packing for last week's vacation, picking clothes was the easy part. Picking which books to bring involved a considerable dilemma.

The next book in my TBR stack was THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS' NEST. If I'd been taking a car vacation I would have brought it, but I couldn't quite convince myself to bring it on a plane trip. My carry-on was heavy enough, and it didn't make sense to pack this book in my suitcase and then start reading a mass market paperback on the plane.

If we'd gone near a bookstore in Florida I would likely have given in and bought a second copy of it, knowing I could always pawn a copy off on a friend, but turned out there was no reading time on this trip other than the plane flights, so in the end it probably worked out for the best.

[Poll #1581550]

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Last time I flew to California, I took Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, which is a thousand pages of hardback.

Last time I flew to Taiwan, I took all three of the Baroque Cycle. Yup, 3000 pages. In hardbacks.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I rarely buy hardcovers due to the cost issue, so this doesn't come up anymore. In the past I have done this, however.

[cypherindigo.livejournal.com]

I hate flying with a white hot passion. I choose thick books so that I have something I can't distroy with my "deathgrip" during take-off and landing.

[karen-w-newton.livejournal.com]

Vacation time is when eReaders come into their own. Hardcover schmardcover! My ebook library weighs less than 12 oz.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I have dodgy shoulders, so books are difficult to begin with. Hardbacks are just bricks that mean I can take fewer books over all.

[larryhammer]

When we're traveling, we're often backpacking it, so weight is even more important than car trips -- I limit myself to two, or sometimes three, paperbacks long enough to last me. For car trips, if it's an active vacation (including hiking/backpacking/whatnot), I operate on similar principles, but if it's more relaxed, knowing there's more reading time and space is less of a premium, I'll sometimes take a couple large trade pb/hardcovers.

---L.

[fireun.livejournal.com]

I have only taken hardcovers on very rare occasions, usually ones that involve my having been an inexperienced traveler. I would consider taking one now if it was a delayed release that I needed to read immediately.

I go through about 1 book per 5 hours of plane ride/down time on vacation, so it is a matter of how much I can cram in my carry on and suitcase. MM are nice and compact and can sometimes squish rather well, so they are preferred.

I still fail at enjoying ebooks, so maximizing book space for travel is still a thing I do.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

We throw a joker in because we read from the library, almost always hardcovers. The idea of being trapped in Newark Airport without a book terrifies me . . .

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

If it's next on my to read pile, then yes.

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

considering on my vacation, I took 3 hardcovers, none which I started reading - and only one by an author I have read before.