Happy Discovery!

Before starting this journey I was very anti the e-reader trend. I'm still not 100% sold on the idea of e-readers like the NOOK  or the Kindle but I'm getting real close. I just really love the look, feel, smell of a real book, or dead-tree books as I've seen them be called. Maybe I'm a little old school but I like to snuggle into a chair with a book and can't see the e-reader being able to replicate that feeling. Not to mention that the idea of a massive library of books being replaced by one little electronic device just breaks my heart. However, when I started this journey it dawned on me that 1001 books is quite a lot, especially when it was my intention to buy more often than not because I love buying books and having them at my disposal. Now I'm met with a few conundrums. First, is that 1001 books takes up a fair amount of space, which I don't have a ton of. I could borrow from the library but like the idea of building up a family library of books for my children to be able to access as they grow older. My second, and probably more important, conundrum is that 1001 books actually costs quite a bit of money, something else I don't have a ton of. Of course, I'm not buying them all at one time so it's much more manageable but it's still a concern.

So, getting back to the e-reader debate, I had the idea of e-book downloads brought up to me by a friend. I sort of blew off the suggestion because of my e-book prejudice but the idea simmered in my head for a few days. This weekend while sitting home bored I began looking up the specs and reviews on the different kinds of e-readers, trying to keep an open mind. I do love the idea of having so many books, so easily at my disposal, especially on vacations or long car rides. As I researched them I find that the idea is becoming more and more tempting.

While checking out the Nook on the Barnes and Noble site I found that they have several classics available for free download. That was enough of an incentive for me to download their desktop reader to my laptop to check out. Today I searched the free e-book selections for anything that may be on my 1001 list and found 35 books easily! I downloaded those immediately and added them to my 'to be read' list. It was like Christmas or my birthday come early! 35 free books and more possibly to come when I look harder. YAY! Now the idea of buying an e-reader is becoming much more appealing since I don't want to read all those on my laptop, I may go blind staring at my screen for that long. So now I need to ask around for opinions on the different kinds of e-readers for pros and cons of each kind. I have plenty of time since my disposable income is limited and it'll take me awhile to save up enough for one. At least I have plenty of free reading material now so I can put my book money towards my e-reader fund.

I still kind of feel like a dead-tree book traitor.