As you may or may not know, I love books. I love everything about them; the way they look on the shelf, their colorful covers, the smell they put off after a few years, everything. Book stores and libraries are mini-paradises to me, offering more books that I could ever hope to own, more knowledge than I know what to do with. If books were to disappear from the face of the earth, via evaporation, burning, migration, whatever, I’m not quite sure what I would do. Probably hoard them en masse until it was impossible to do so any longer. That being said…
My new favorite book is…well, it’s a nook. There, I said it, please, fellow book lovers, don’t shun me. You see, with my love of books, I have quite a collection built up. A collection that fills bookshelves, that is ever growing and quite diverse. How can this be a bad thing, you may ask? Well, usually, it isn’t. Until moving day comes. On moving day, I have to take all my books, box them up and then carry them (well, not me…they’re pretty heavy) where ever they need to go. This is a problem that will not go away, as long as I’m alive. Enter the nook. Now, in addition to all of my favorite real books (as in physical. I know ebooks aren’t imaginary), I have a collection of ebooks that can travel with me all over the world! If I want to read Jane Eyre in Ireland, I can, without shoving a 400 page plus text into my already overstuffed backpack. If I want to switch to reading something else, I can, without even packing two books. How wonderful! Clearly, the nook is a reading traveler’s best friend.
The nook is helpful in another key way–it saves me money. Tons of money. Why? Because it is nearly impossible for me to walk through a bookstore without buying a book or four. A clearance sale? Well, let me get a basket because we’re not leaving until I find some great deals. The nook allows me to buy ebooks for a fraction of the price of a hardcover, and cheaper, still, than a paperback. In some cases, I can even get ebooks for free! It’s like a library where you get to keep the book forever! This means that I can have more to read, and more money to boot! Now, when I see a 75% off book, I can buy it without an ounce of guilt! Perfect.
Am I turning my back on books forever? Do I support their demise? No, and never. My nook is more like a book substitute–most useful for when I can’t really carry a real book, when I want to save a little cash but still have fresh reading material, and when I want to carry a library in my backpack. What could be better? A $1,000 Barnes and Noble gift card? A house with a room filled with books? Sure, I’ll agree, I’d like those things more–but do I get to keep the nook?
