I bought a nook.

First, let me say how much I loved MAGIC BLEEDS by Ilona Andrews. It's an excellent read, in keeping with the first three books in the series. Choices were made in this book that the whole series had been building up to, and the writing didn't disappoint. I'm sorry that I can't take more time to write a proper review, but I'm spread a little thin right now. The point? Go. Buy. Love. B&N | Indiebound | Amazon

Now, then. I believe I once posted here about how I wasn't an e-book kind of girl and how I didn't even like to buy used books because the experience of reading the book was so intensely personal to me and yadda yadda. I couldn't find the post, but I'm almost certain it's out there in the blogosphere someplace, waiting for this precise moment to bite me in the ass. I'm not saying those things aren't still true, because they are. However, I also believe e-books are the future of publishing in one way or another and, frankly, I like gadgets.

Hence, I bought an e-reader.

I researched the nook, the Kindle and the Sony. Despite the advantage of the price difference and the fact that my friend has one and loves it, I ruled out the Sony almost immediately because their website sucks and I found it difficult to really research the device's features online. That left the Kindle and the nook. The features are pretty similar. I went to B&N and played around with a nook and I liked it fine. We could also get one essentially for free, using reward points we'd accumulated on a credit card. Ultimately, though, the deciding factor was that I feel like Amazon's business practices have been a little hinky lately and I just didn't feel right about tying myself to them for the long term.

So! My nook! I took it home, charged it up, downloaded some books--DEAD IN THE FAMILY by Charlaine Harris and BLACK MAGIC SANCTION by Kim Harrison, to be exact--and started reading. Four hours later? The nook broke. *facepalm*

I'd apparently received a defective unit with some sort of screen-refresh problem that everyone in the store found "very interesting." I didn't find it interesting at all. O.o But the exchange process was relatively harmless and I now have my new nook at home. I was able to finish reading DEAD IN THE FAMILY with no further problems. (Good read, btw. Charlaine does it again!)

My thoughts: The e-reader did not revolutionize my reading experience. It's neat. I like it fine. I don't think I like it better than reading a paperback book but I do like it better than reading a hardcover.

I can't comfortably read in as many positions as I could with a paperback book--or at least, not that I found in the few hours I've spent with the nook so far. Also, the blink that happens during the page-turning-slash-screen-refresh does take some getting used to. Theoretically, it's no different than having to wait to turn the page of a paper book, but the darkening of the screen (what I call the "blink") is a little jarring. I'm working on timing it so that I'm not just sitting there and waiting for the next word.

I do love having an entire library of books at my fingertips. I love that when I go to Japan in the fall, I won't have to worry about how many books to bring or about running out of books. I also love that it automatically bookmarks my page. I can stop reading at any moment and simply put the nook down--whenever I come back to it, hours or days later, it will know right where I left off.

As I use the nook more, I'm sure I'll post more thoughts about it here. In the meantime, if you have any burning nook-related questions, feel free to ask.

Oh, incidentally, I've named it Beatrice.