One Giant Leap for My Kind

Not long ago, I said firmly that I would not be using an e-reader. "I'll never use one of those; I can't imagine trying to read from a screen all the time."

I'm not an early adapter (So much so that I'm not even sure if it's really early adapter or early adopter. And these things matter to me.). Today I tried to get across the state using only a GPS, and I ended up adding an extra 40 minutes to my trip. Give me a big, unwieldy atlas any day.

Plus, as regards an e-reader, I love real books. I love the feel of them, especially hardcovers. A lovely dust jacket is so inviting, the feel of heavy paper is satisfying, and even the smell of the ink is heavenly. Plus I like to turn it on end and check how far I've gotten. And my home feels complete only with full (or possibly over-full) bookshelves. Nope, an e-reader is not for me.

Then, last summer, I got on a flight with a bag stuffed with the 8-10 books I thought I might possibly need over 8 days time (ha!). The handles were ripping out, as were my shoulder and my spinal column. I settled in the seat on the plane, then bent over double to dig through the bag between my feet for the book I wanted at that moment. The woman next to me had her purse as a carry-on, and she effortlessly pulled out an enlarged cell phone-like object and started reading. She had loaded all the books she wanted for her trip.

Well, that got me thinking. At the last minute, I added a reader to my Christmas wish list. And on Christmas day I got a Nook. After spending a couple of hours going back and forth to the Barnes and Noble website, complete with a call to customer service (yes, on Christmas day), I finally got a) my account open, b) my gift card registered, and c) my customer rewards card number entered. And I could finally purchase my first ebook. Which was The Art of Racing in the Rain, but I'll write about that book on another day.

And now I have read my first ebook. So what can I say about it? It will be handy to carry multiple titles when traveling. The Nook is not backlit, so it's easy on the eyes, but still requires a booklight if I want to read in the dark. The booklight is easier to clip onto the cover of the Nook than to maneuver around pages, but it does make a glare on the screen. It's much quieter to turn pages on the Nook than with a real book. (I will continue to refer to print books as "real" books, and you'll just have to put up with it.) The one real bonus to me is that I feel like I'm reading faster because each screenful is half a page, so I'm clicking through the pages like mad. And I can search for something I want to re-read just by typing in a couple of remembered words.

On the minus side, I really missed the cover. Yes, I can view the cover on my Nook, but it's not pretty. I know that seems shallow, but there's a reason they make dust jackets so attractive. Real books don't need to be charged every so often. I can barely remember to charge my cell phone. And after spending a good part of each day working on my computer, it's just not as restful to look at yet another screen. One of the selling points was that the library system has a collection that can be downloaded. However, that is the KDL system, not the Grand Rapids library system, and I don't have the correct address. Grrr. I'll spare you my rant on that subject.

But still, I liked it. I will continue to buy real books, no doubt. A book that matters to me needs to be held and studied and loaned out and recommended. And if at all possible, signed by the author. How would Mary Karr autograph my Nook, right? Also, I feel like a traitor to the bookstores that I love. I avoid purchasing books at Barnes and Noble because I prefer to support local stores. I expect to use the Nook for books that I don't expect a lot from, that I won't want to pull off the shelf and push into someone else's hands. Or possibly for really thick books (think Vanity Fair or Anna Karenina) that are not so easy to schlepp around. I can't imagine browsing for a good novel on my computer--I like to stop in at the Literary Life bookstore or Pooh's Corner or Schuler's and finger all the books on the shelves. So, I make the leap, but halfheartedly.

But I will never use a GPS again. No way.