While we’re off traveling this week, Terry and I are planning
to fight over share the Nook. We bought it in November using a
fantastic teacher discount. Ours is the most basic version, but Nook Color
and Nook Tablet are also available. I thought I’d offer a little
insight into this little device for anyone who might be thinking of going
electronic.
Let me start off by saying that I struggled immensely with the decision to shift to
e-books. I love to read and majored in English literature, so obviously the
feel of a book in my hand has always been dear to me. I love smell of an old
book, the crinkle of a page, the crack of a book’s spine when you first open
it. More importantly, I destroy my
books—in a good way. I highlight, underline, write notes, dog-ear pages. I
don’t care if books get wet or sit in the sun too long or fade in color or have
food all over them (known to happen with me), because it all shows how much I
loved them.
Okay, moving on from my ode to books, I also had to get
realistic. Terry and I travel—a lot! It was becoming difficult to pack
so many books on our trips, and I would get frustrated when I brought a book on
a trip with only 50 pages left to read (and then it just took up space) or when
I couldn’t bring a book because it was so bulky. A Nook allows you to load up
as many books as you’d like without adding weight or taking up space in your
luggage.
Honestly, our decision to buy a Nook had nothing to do with
cost. As my husband says, “A book is always a good investment.” I love that
attitude, but it also meant that a trip to Barnes and Noble or any used
bookstore meant we bought at least one book to add to our collection. The
problem? We live in a tiny apartment! We have one giant bookshelf, one small
one, and a few nooks and crannies where we stuff the leftovers. At least three
times a year, I go through our stash and purge the shelves of anything we won’t
read again or probably won’t ever read, and I haul it all to Good Will.
Still, we were accumulating more than we could store, and it was beginning to
be a problem. Once again, a Nook was a space saver.
So why the Nook and not the Kindle? Mainly, I wanted
to jump on board with the fact that Barnes and Noble was jumping on board with
e-books. As I said, I love going to bookstores, and Terry and I have spent
hours upon hours perusing shelves in happy silence. I want to make sure
bookstores still exist when we have kids so that we can take them to the
children’s section and let them choose whatever they want. By choosing a Nook,
we are forced (happily) to purchase all of our e-books through Barnes andNoble’s website, so we’re supporting them.
Other benefits of a Nook (some of these features may also be
available on the Kindle):
- The screen truly looks like a real book, and you can read it in any light you could read a real book (on the same note, you can’t read it in the dark, the way you can an iPad).
- If you have an iPad or smartphone, you can download your books between devices. So I can read on my iPad while Terry reads on the Nook, or I can read from my phone if I’ve left my Nook at home. Bonus: The devices can sync so that you pick up on your iPad where you left off on the Nook without having to remember the page number.
- You can still highlight, make notes, and bookmark (virtual dog-ear) pages. It’s just that these notes are neater, more organized, and easily accessed compared to handwritten notes scribbled in margins.
- You can look up the definition of most words without needing to access the Internet (a dictionary is built in).
- As long as you turn off the Nook when you aren’t using it, the battery will last for weeks.
- There are several cute cover options (obviously a priority). We chose the ampersand/question mark cover.
We still buy real books, especially reference books,
health/fitness/food books, and anything we think we might read again. All my
classics are the real deal, and I’m a big fan of buying beautiful, old, used
versions of my favorites.
Not exactly my favorites, but okay. (Source) |
We also still love bookstores. Old ones, new ones, big ones,
small ones. My favorite in the world so far is Shakespeare & Company
in Paris; its tiny, crowded spaces and historical significance gave it a
charm unmatched by any store I’ve seen. I have every intention of loading our
future house with dozens of bookshelves and thousands of books (a la Beauty and the Beast, perhaps?), but
while we live in LA in a tiny, one bedroom apartment, the Nook satisfies our
desire to read without imposing on our quality of life.
Do you have a strong
opinion about e-books?
What’s your favorite
bookstore?
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