Suzanne Collins is a personal favorite of mine and will forever be remembered for her emotionally charged narrative The Hunger Games. The day Sunrise on the Reaping was released onto bookshelves is a day that I will never forget. I had gone to my nearest Barnes & Noble to purchase a physical copy of the text, along with some annotating tools and pens to note my thoughts. The tabs were, of course, purple to match the front cover of the book.
It was an enticing read. As an extensive fan of The Hunger Games, I’m always looking for more content to scratch the itch. And when there was word of a new entry centered around Haymitch Abernathy, a beloved fan favorite character in the series, I just couldn’t help myself. But as I continued reading, I found myself slowing down.
I stopped reading at about halfway through the text. It remained on my desk for a few days, and every so often I’d find myself attempting to come back to the story. I will admit that the story does have a little bit of an issue with pacing, as some sections were somewhat drawn out, and I believe it’s the reason why it remained on my desk for the remainder of my sophomore year here at WSU.
It took till December of 2025 to finally sit down and finish what I started. Months prior, my mother and I both purchased subscriptions for Audible, a popular and well known audiobook service. I had convinced her after my manager at my job recommended R.A Salvator’s Homeland, which was exclusively released to Audible. We’ve both been users ever since.
After scrolling through recommendations on the app, I was met with the dark purple cover of Sunrise on the Reaping once more, and it didn’t take long for me to use one of my Audible credits to purchase it. Through the course of my audiobook journey, I’ve found that a lot of the narrators that voice these entries really do a good job at creating tension, along with the fact that they perform the character voices pretty well. It can be a little difficult for me to get a grasp of vocal tone when reading, and having someone voice these characters for me really helps me!
After finishing the entire audiobook from the very beginning, I was left with a bittersweetness that I generally didn’t get when reading the paperback. The emotionally charged narration that Jefferson White provided was perfect, and has really made me lean towards preferring audio over paperback. My thoughts are, of course, subjective; some people could disagree with me, but personally I thought it matched Haymitch’s overall demeanor and character perfectly.
There has been some debate over the notion that audiobooks are lesser than paperbacks, or vice versa. On one hand, paperbacks provide all five senses; the touch and smell of the parchment, the sight of the ink and text, the sound of pages turning…and taste? Well, I suppose you could argue that the story itself is tasteful…or you could technically take a bite out of one of the pages. Free will, yeah?
On the other hand, Four of the five senses, however, are stripped from audiobooks. You can’t feel or smell any pages and you obviously can’t hold the story physically in your hands, but having someone read the story to you can sometimes be even more entertaining than reading it yourself. At least that’s what I’ve gathered from my experience.
“I would say, honestly, I prefer paperback just because I can take my own time to read through it carefully–if I don’t understand something, because I mostly read philosophy,” Claire Davies, a psychology major and senior here at WSU, gave me her thoughts. like it [audiobooks] because it’s easier and more accessible. But with paperback, I can process it easier.”
When asked about the pros and the cons, Davies said: “I think for paperback–well, for one, I guess you could say that it’s not very environmentally friendly, because you’re using a crap ton of paper,” she goes on. “And, like, it’s not very mobile, but with audiobooks, you don’t get the experience of flipping through and reading something. I feel like flipping through the pages is, like a part of it, you know? I would also say another con for audiobooks would be the fact that it takes away from the human essence of reading. Like, reading a book compared to listening to one. But audiobooks are very convenient.”
Is one form of media truly better than the other? With audiobooks, you don’t have to go to the store or wait for it in the mail. With an app like Audible, you can buy your next book straight from your device; there’s no wait at all. However, it’s not hard to imagine titles that include sound effects or full cast narration can be more pricey in terms of expenses.
It’s also not hard to imagine the fact that buying books can be a truly expensive hobby–at least the titles that are locked behind a paywall. Audiobooks, depending on the title, can range anywhere from eight dollars to over twenty-five dollars. Despite this, there are plenty of free entries on Youtube, and if you have a Spotify Premium account you get a vast selection of free audiobooks as well. And depending on where you live, you could go to your local library and pick up books for free too.
But paperback is the original form, you know? It’s not surprising that some people find new technology jarring and confusing, and prefer to take in stories through physical media. There’s a great substance that comes with reading a physical copy of a book. Silence can be a virtue; it creates suspense and tension, and can truly make you sit on the edge of your seat. Titles that include art for sections of the story are extra special, as they give me a grasp of what the characters look like, the setting, and other details that can help me visualize what’s going on.
Personally, I don’t believe that either source of media is better than the other, but I will say that audio format is much more convenient than paperback. Despite all notions between each form of intake, our intent is all the same: to enjoy a story, to be informed, to learn or to be educated. That very fact is indisputable. Despite the fact that we humans are evolving and developing new forms of technology with each coming year, I personally don’t see a future without paperback novels. It’s just too iconic of a medium to get rid of.
Elizabeth Mendes • Feb 19, 2026 at 5:46 pm
This was so well written! Very impressive!
Alexander Hoag • Feb 19, 2026 at 2:49 pm
Great arguments, as someone who has exclusively used paperbacks, I never considered how it could benefit the tone of the book. When I read, I also sometimes find it difficult to infer how dialogue is intended to be understood, and audiobooks definitely mitigate that. Very compelling article!