Sunday, March 18, 2012

I may go over to the dark side

That's right. I'm considering buying an ebook reader.

This is rather anathema in my world. You see, I love books. Real, live books. I like the way they look all lined up on my shelf and tucked onto my bedside table. I like the way they feel in my hands. I even like the way new books smell. And I became a librarian because as a child I so loved to read, and that has continued throughout my life.

I'm certain that actual print books will always have a place in my life. But I've been noticing a few things lately. The first is space. I keep having to weed my print collection because we simply don't have room to store all of the books that we'd like to. Plus, there are a lot of free ebooks out there. Stuff that is out of copyright (St. Therese's Story of a Soul!), promotional offers to get you hooked on an author. I've been getting back into my Harlequin roots again, and that's been making me ponder: I love these books, but what do I do with them after I read them? I'll keep some favorites, but I don't need all of these little romance novels taking up space on my one bookcase. I end up giving them to friends to read, or donating them to the library book sale. AND there are many of those books out there for free as ebooks! Or, very inexpensive, often times much less expensive than getting the print. Not always, certainly. And there's nothing I like more than having a shipment of books waiting for me. But sometimes, there are things available as ebooks that you can't get in print (or would have to order used in print, adding shipping fees to your purchase that you wouldn't ordinarily pay if you bought new).

Like for example, I'll embarrass myself by admitting something: I like the old Harlequin NASCAR series. Go ahead, laugh. But those books are mostly out of print now. A few are available new on Amazon. Harlequin only sells them as ebooks now, they're totally out of stock in their print book store. One is availble for free as an ebook over at Amazon, and they have others in the Kindle store that are all less expensive than buying them in print, either new or used. Harlequin has the whole series available in ebook format.

Anyway, I have about $56 in credit from Amazon from trading in some old books I wasn't using anymore. And their least expensive Kindle is a mere $79. It's got me to thinking that maybe I should just buy it. It would only cost me $23 with the credit! I'd still certainly buy and read print books. But the Kindle would allow me to access free books I wouldn't ordinarily have access to at all, and save money sometimes if I'm not really wedded to keeping a copy of the print book lying around.

But it worries me. Will I still enjoy reading on the device the way I do print books? Will I become one of those annoying people who always has their nose buried in their electronic device? No offense, but those people really get under my skin. :)

So, what do you all think? Should I do it? Do you have a Kindle or a Nook?

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely adore my ebook reader. I have the original nook. At the time, I went with the nook because it allowed me to borrow ebooks from the public library. The Kindle, however, now has that feature as well, so I'm not sure if there is a "better" of the two -- it's just a personal preference.

    I love my ereader because I can 1) borrow library books, 2) purchase books anywhere/anytime 3) not lug a bunch of books around when on vacation. I also like that I can access my books from not only my nook, but also by using apps on my smartphone, iPad, and computer.

    One other thing: the public library takes recommendations for ebooks. Whenever there is one that I want and is not available, I just place a request and if it's available via Overdrive, they add it within 24 hours. It's fantastic!

    I'll be looking forward to hearing whether you purchase one or not. I do really love mine and think you will too!

    PS: If you want to try one out, the Kindles are all available for immediate checkout in our collection. I think they are adding the Hunger Games trilogy shortly, too! (It's the older Kindle though, so I'm not sure what the difference is with the newer ones. Maybe lighter?)

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