I had no idea audio books were ever that substantial.

Still got 500 pages of Feast for Crows before I can start Dance...

Next year, either in March or November, Tor is going to release the final book in the Wheel of Time series. It's book 14, and the series has survived the death of the author. The first book was released in the late 80s early 90s... I get the feeling a lot of readers who have casually read over the years will pick up the final book, just to see how it all ends.

I think that release will easily be as big as aDwD.

I bought a Kindle a week ago specifically to read A Dance with Dragons. The prospect of reading a 1000+ page book in hardcover format just wasn't very appealing.

The audiobooks for the series are fantastic. Only problem is they're unabridged so they're like 40 hours long. So yeah, I've been listening for weeks and weeks during my daily walk and I'm only about 3/4 through Storm of Swords.

I fully intended to by the e-book when it came out, but the hardcover was only 2$ more on amazon anyway.
To all the publishers who haven't figured it out yet: we know the marginal costs on e-books are, well, marginal. Ether price them accordingly or be resigned to only selling dead tree copies, and only then on books people will actually want for display.

The hardcover is 3 lbs 2 oz. I do not normally weigh books, but this one gave me a few welts when I tried to read it while lying on the sofa. It's the first time I really wanted any sort of e-reader.

Got my copy of DWD, time to bring on 1Q84.

I picked my copy up today. Best fantasy series ever written (yes, Tolkein, you just aren't up to Martin's level of smart detail).

@8 - that cracked me up :-) I've had a few that end up getting read while on my stomach for that reason.

I have a small pile of other stuff to get through, then back through books 1-4 before picking that up. I figure there will be a number of used copies out by then!

I buy paper books of books I want to keep. My fluff and fun books just download to the kindle, which Amazon is only too happy to keep providing me :)

Count me among the people who just find hardback books of this size physically awkward to read. To be honest, a chunky paperback is also a bit of a PITA, especially if I'm reading in bed or carrying it around with me. I have the series in paperback, but also have the Kindle versions of all the books, and it's those I found myself reading when catching up before ADWD was released, turning to the paperbacks when there was something I wanted to look up and remind myself of quickly.

It's a brilliant series of books, and I can't break myself of my need to own a physical copy of books I really love yet. But the Kindle is a fantastic convenience - and the little light makes it much less disruptive to read in bed with!

@8: my thoughts exactly. It came and I was like "shit, if I had a Kindle I could get through this a lot faster." I mean, I have a newborn and it's impossible to read a 3lb book while juggling a baby.