Why You Need An E-Reader (Even If You’re A Book Purist)
My Kindle Love Affair— As Told by a Book Junkie
I know. New book smell. All the bookstores. Spending hours perusing shelves. Just because you get an e-reader doesn’t mean you have to give any of this up— I haven’t. I still buy books, borrow books, and sniff books. But I’m also madly in love with my Kindle. Here’s why.
I broke into the E-reader scene a little over a year ago when I received a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday:
(Flashback to July 2016)
Boyfriend (said lovingly): “So I don’t have to carry around all of your *effing* books when we backpack.”
Me: “Yay!”
I had considered e-readers before — having this fantasy not dissimilar to the ones I’d had as a kid of having all the books at once ( I know I’m not the only one who was forever ruined by Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever).
But the e-readers I tried never stuck with me, mostly because I couldn’t get myself to commit to staring at a bright screen any longer than strictly necessary.
So when I read my first Kindle ebook on a camping trip later that week I knew I was doomed, because my new gadget didn’t have a bright screen at all, in fact it was basically a fully customizable book (font, size, brightness) that could be held in one hand and was perfect for sideways-reading the biggies (still haven’t finished War & Peace, but you can bet it’s on my Kindle).
Because of its portability and easy integration into our techie world, I’m pretty sure having this thing has helped me read more.
I’ll never give up on real paper books, but I also can’t imagine my book-nerd existence without my Kindle. Here’s a couple of thoughts on why.
1. Read Everywhere
The Kindle was made for travel. So far I’ve read: In most Uber rides, in all the lines, at restaurants waiting for friends, and in some of the most remote destinations on the West Coast— all places I might not have had a book on me (especially considering my addiction to the big ones).
2. Free Books
For real. There are so many ways to get free/cheap books on Kindle. Free classics are easy to find, but you can also borrow books from your local library, take advantage of Amazon Prime book sales and even score some daily deals with sites like Book Riot.
3. Don’t Give Up Highlighting, Dog-earring, or Note-taking
I see you fellow book nerd, pen poised above the page and about to underline a sentence. You won’t have to give up your habit of note-taking and marking pages just because you went digital. In fact it’s kind of the opposite. You may catch yourself running a finger across a real page and wondering why it didn’t highlight…or tapping on a word and waiting for a definition to pop up (just saying, it’s happened).
4. A Real Page, Minus the Delicious Book Smell
The Paperwhite feels as close to a book as e-readers may ever get (although this is probs not true). With a page that doesn’t hurt your eyes, brightness settings that go all the way down for daytime reading, a glare-free screen, and a small compact body, it gives you the best of both worlds.
5. No Wait Time
Because sometimes even Amazon’s two-day shipping seems like too long of a wait. I really love that I can download books instantly. Kindle was made for people with no self control.
6. All the Books
If you don’t like to just read one book at a time then this one is definitely for you. I switch between about 4–5 books on my Kindle at any given time, avoiding the problem of having brought only one book with me somewhere that, sigh, I don’t feel like reading.
No more crises about which book to bring. Just bring them all.
