I want to start reading the new Canon books since there's not as much material as the old Canon yet. But I'm torn between buying the physical books or subscribing to Audible to buy the audiobooks.

Now I'd love to get the physical books since it's cheaper, I read pretty fast, and I think a physical library on a shelf just looks nice.

But audiobooks are a viable option too. Because of school, I don't have a whole lot of time to read. But I do have a long commute between home and school, and I appreciate the effort in Star Wars audiobooks where they add music and sound effects from the movies and video games to really make it feel in-universe.

What would be the best course of action here?

 

I would get the physical copies since, like you said, they are cheaper. The best course of action, though, is to borrow them first just to see if you like these books. That's what I pretty much did most of the time when I was checking out the Star Wars novels as well as some of the comic books albeit in their trade paperback format and even the graphic novellas based on the two Clone Wars cartoons. I also recommend checking out on Wookiepedia just to see which titles of the novels you would most likely be interested in if you are also planning to check out the old canon novels at some point.

 

There's not substitute for a good book, but I will say that the Star Wars audiobooks have been great for decades, and leaned closer to radioplays than simple narrations. That always put them a cut above some of the other sci-fi audiobooks on the market.

See if your library has any of the audiobooks, if you want to try a couple. If you're in a sizeable city, its almost certain they will (note that they may be on cd or even *GASP* cassette).

If you do go the paperback route, if you're buying them (other than relatively new ones, let's say the ones from the 90s) from anything other than thrift stores and used book stores, I think you're crazy.

 

I just get the audiobooks from the library.

If you want nice versions of the paperbooks, what's wrong with getting them from Amazon? Used books tend to have creases all over the spines.

 

There are some such as the Star Wars Radio series (Actually featuring Mark Hamill and other alumni as their characters) that are straight radio dramas. That expand on the movies and you get more scenes with characters such as Biggs. And others such as Dark empire that expand the stories after the movies. The are full cast dramas, so they may be more enjoyable.

 

I was actually going to mention the radio dramas as well, if he can get a hold of them. I think "Smuggler's Gambit" was released for free online not too long ago, and NPR played the radio dramas of the three films a lot when I was a kid.