Summer reading got a little more fun this year for a couple
reasons - I am the proud owner of my very own eReader AND I had this amazing streak of
reading 5 books in a row that I absolutely adored.
Kindle vs. Nook
A few years ago, I bought the original Kindle as a birthday gift
for my husband. He loved it. I did too. So much that I was often
begging him to borrow it. So when the
eReader price war began earlier this summer, my husband
got a Wifi only Nook for me as an early birthday present.
The big attraction to the Nook (vs. another Kindle) was not only
the price, but the ability to borrow ebooks from our library and
other sources. Finding free books for the Kindle is very difficult,
and for the most part you are stuck purchasing books through Amazon
for the Kindle.
Not only does my local library have an awesome selection of
ebooks to borrow, Barnes and Noble also has a "lend me"
option on many books allowing Nook owners to share books with each
other. I have found that the Nook is a little slower than the
Kindle - pages turn a little slower and commands take just a tad
longer. Navigation of the touch screen commands take a little
getting used to. But over all, I love it. I also found with the
Kindle I was constantly accidently hitting the page turn button (I
understand this issue was resolved with the Kindle 2, but I haven't
tried personally yet). There is not that problem with the Nook. The
Nook feels good in my hands - it is slim and light. The Kindle
feels a little clunkier, but that is because I was always trying to
avoid the page turn buttons! With the Wifi only Nook, you are
limited to internet connection when a wireless network is
available, which is generally not a problem for me.
Is an eReader right for you?
The big hesitations I hear about eReaders are "Will it give me a
headache?" and "aren't you scared to bring it to the beach?" and
"Don't you miss the touch, feel, smell of a physical book?"
eReaders use this cool new technology called electronic
ink. The device is not back lit, so it is nothing
like looking at a computer screen. You have to see it yourself to
understand. It is amazing.
eReaders are awesome for traveling. You can bring a whole
library of books with you in one small device! We purchased a
waterproof cover for it so sand and water would not harm it at
the beach.
I personally do not miss the touch, feel smell of a physical
book. I'm not a book collector - I read a book once and then I'm
done with it. My only complaint with eReaders is that it is a
little difficult to flip back through to reference previously read
material. You can easily book mark a page, and you can easily jump
to a chapter. But if you aren't sure where it is you saw something,
it's tough to flip through. For example, while reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there are a
lot of Swedish names and places I had trouble keeping track of. I
found myself wanting to flip back, but was not able to do so
easily.
Overall, I highly recommend eReaders, specifically the Nook.
Both devices are great, but the fact that the Nook is more flexible
in terms of where you can get books puts it at the top for me.
Stay tuned for my summer reading recommendations!