The Therapist Takes A Nook

I, Therapist, take you, Nook, to be my E-Reader of choice. To have and to hold, (ok, carry), from this day forward, whenever there are times that the book I'm reading may be heavy or awkward to juggle with my other worldly items. I promise to keep you dry from bath water and your battery charged til death (of your battery or screen life) do us part.
Yes, I have "taken" a Nook. I, who never thought such a day would come.
It's not that I don't have friends with E-Readers; I do. And I have tried not to judge them for their purchase, their mad and reckless departure from all that is holy. And...in the end, it turns out that scripture is right on this topic, "judge not lest you be judged", because here I sit, not alone, but with a Nook. I blame Stephen King for my unfaithfulness.
I have written about Stephen before when his new novel UNDER THE DOME came out in 2010. I believe I called it a "tomb" and may have mentioned Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. A devout King fan since his infamous THE STAND, I was excited to hear that he had written a new novel called 11/22/63.

               

Anyone that has been on the planet for a half of century knows exactly what that date is and I was interested to see how Stephen King would write about the assassination of JFK. Bibliophile bought the book for me right away and when I came home from work, there it sat covering up a large portion of my night stand. This is when the first thoughts of adultery came to me. I thought about how I read in the bathtub every night. I thought about reading Justin Cronin's THE PASSAGE and the aforementioned UNDER THE DOME...it was in that moment that I knew I would become a cheater. It became quite clear to me that my faithfulness could not bear up under the temptation the Nook presented of giving me ALL of 11/22/63 in just 7.5 portable ounces. Three days later the Nook and I bathed together with all 897 pages of 11/22/63...I fell in love.
I wrote the first part of this when I first "took the nook", (that ended up catchier than I intended), and can now look back on my first three months as an adulterer. It turns out that the nook did not steal all my affections as my reading has been evenly divided between those books I can actually (have and) hold and those that are digitized. I have not deserted my habit of browsing through bookstores and caressing a cover or page. I still fill my "to be read" bookshelf with books of the original variety.
So, what I have found is that my divided affections have actually caused me to read MORE, and that is the real beauty of my new reading partner. Although unexpected, I am quite satisfied with this new, open relationship. I hope my real books understand.

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Converted to E-reading?

I know you are out there, you Nook naysayers, you who decry the move to digital e-readers and e-reading. I know this, because I have been among you.

I, too, have a love of books. I love the heft and feel of a book in my hand. There's the cover art, the thickness and smoothness of the pages, how well the books sits in my hand. Books have personality and I love them. (see the recent blog post about THE NIGHT CIRCUS, a perfect example of a great book book.)

        

However, since one of my birthday presents a few weeks ago was a Nook, I must admit that there are things I really like about reading on the device.

I admit that at first, even though I'd borrowed a Nook before and read on it, it felt strange not to be reading a book. I missed the feel and personality of books. Books almost seemed too abstract on the Nook, much too easy to order. They are SO available and I can get them with a click of a button. And then it hardly feels as though I have anything.

So I was dubious, wondering if I would be all that enthusiastic about doing a lot of reading on an e-reader.

And then I started. Recommended by one of my co-workers, and being a book I didn't think Therapist would necessarily like (though now that I'm almost done with it I think she might like it a lot), I started reading SKIPPY DIES by Paul Murray.

        

And I got into the story. It didn't seem to matter that I was using a device. I was enjoying reading.

Then I made a discovery! As an active Nook seller at work, I knew the Nook has the capability to highlight and take notes. This was a feature I didn't think I'd use at all, but I do. And I love it. When I find a phrase or a passage I want to remember, I can highlight it and make notes about it. Before, when reading regular books, I'd have gotten piece of paper to mark the page. Then, when finished reading the book, I'd go back and find the phrase and write it in a notebook or on the computer. But NOW, on the Nook, I can highlight the phrase and write a note about it and it's THERE! No more pieces of paper. I love this feature.

I do this a lot when reading, so this is a boon for me. I am thrilled that it does this!

(The first phrase I found in SKIPPY DIES that I liked and wanted to remember is 'internal pandemonium'. I knew you'd want to know.)

To me, reading on a device is similar to when I started using email instead of sending letters and cards through the mail. Yes, with email there is the missing of writing an actual letter, the feel of the stationery and the look of the writer's handwriting on the paper, which is wonderful and oh-so-personal.

On the other hand, email (and texting) is so quick and easy to use. I (and I'll bet I'm not alone here) use email most of the time when communicating with others. Yes, there are downsides to using email, but there are a lot of pluses.

There are pluses to reading on an e-reader too. There's the note taking/highlighting features. I also love how portable it is. I take it everywhere with me (I have the Simple Touch, which is compact and, dare I say it, cute?) I can pull it out when I'm waiting in line at the gas station or the Starbucks drive-through, which I did not do with regular books.

Am I a complete convert to reading digitally? No. I am edging in that direction, enjoying some of the advantages of reading on a device. I can see myself going between book books and reading on the Nook. There are pluses to both. I'm glad to have the option!

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Nook book? Or book book?

I have a confession. I like my gadgets. I'm not really a gadget kind of person, but there are 2 gadgets I really like. I lusted after the iphone as soon as it came out several years ago. And I longed for the latest Nook e-reader when it came out this last June. And I love my iphone (is it right to say that I love a device? well, I do.) And Therapist and Therapist's mom gave me a Nook for my birthday. Yay! Gadget fun!

I've been reading Tom Perrotta's THE LEFTOVERS and was eager to finish it so I could get my next book on my new Nook! There's a book that just came out, THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern. It's her debut novel, and has catapulted to #1 on our best seller list in the first week. Amazing. One of our managers is reading it and he really likes it. Audrey Niffenegger of TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE wrote a blurb for the back cover, she likes it. I got a free sample of it on the Nook and started reading. I liked how it started. I knew I wanted to read the whole thing.

So then the question was, get it as a book? Or digitally on the Nook?

My first inclination was to get it on the Nook, after all, it would be my first Nook book, and part of the reason I wanted an e-reader was so I wouldn't have to carry hardcovers around. The Nook is so light.

But then I thought of Therapist. She might like to read this if it's as good as the buzz seems to indicate. And she isn't all that interested in an e-reader. And if it's really good, we have friends we might lend it to.

But I just got the Nook! I have been looking forward to using it, being able to tuck it in my purse without having something extra to carry around.

The price was about the same for the digital version as for the regular book. At work I got a copy of the book to take a look at it.



It's a good cover. The book itself (under the dust jacket) is black with silver curlicues and silver writing. The facing pages for each section are black pages with stars. Striking. Black and white stripes make up the inside front cover. The whole book is beautiful.

I was still leaning toward getting the digital version. Part of me felt as though I was being ungrateful for the gift of the Nook if I didn't start using it on the next book I wanted to buy. Plus I wanted to use the Nook!

I talked to J. about my dilemma. "I just got a Nook for my birthday and I want to read this. I can get it on the Nook," I said.

"Yeah, that'd be cool," she said.

"But look at the book, isn't it pretty? These facing pages, the cover...it's so pretty. Maybe I should buy the book."

"That's true, it is pretty. Maybe you should buy it." She agreed with whatever point I was making.

T. jumped in. "Is there anyone you'd loan it to?", he asked.

"Yes, several people," I said.

"Well, there you go. And the price is about the same, so get the book," he said.

So I did. With a twinge of regret for not getting it on the Nook, I bought the book.

And I'm glad I did. I'm not that far in, but I am so enjoying the sumptuous design of the book. Sometimes books are written where the words themselves bring the story to life, draw us into the characters and the action. (And sometimes books are written where the words DON'T bring the story to life, but that's another blog post.) And sometimes the words are enhanced by the trappings surrounding them, as in this case.

The story is rich and magical, I have been drawn in and am enjoying this book, the story and the book itself. There are books I will enjoy on the Nook. And there are books I will enjoy owning as actual books. This is one of them.

Did you know that you can find out more about a title mentioned in the blog by clicking on the cover? You will be taken to amazon.com and can find out more about the book and purchase it as well!

E-reading, yes or no?

I just finished reading my first book on an e-reader device. (We own the actual book, but I had an opportunity to try out the device and wanted to see how it was to read on it for some lengths of time.)

The device is pretty nifty. I like the color touch screen, I like that I can turn the pages with my finger (a 'la the iPad), I like how portable it is and easy to hold. I like that I can change the font size. It opens exactly to the page I'm on when I turn it on, which is great. And, I'm not sure if this is true, but it seems to me that I read faster on the device.

But it isn't a book.

While the device has all the book's content (plus reviews and overviews and rankings, etc.), there are some things that the device can't give me. I'm missing seeing the cover every time I sit down to read. I miss feeling the heft, feeling the paper...this one is a hardcover, not very big, good picture on the front...see?



(And yes, I can see the cover on the device if I click to get there, just not every time I pick it up.)

Books have personalities, not just the stories inside, but the overall look and feel, the cover picture/art/style/colors, the weight and heft of the book, the size of the text, the font, the texture of the pages...

On the e-reader device, most of that is missing. Each book feels the same in the hand, because (obviously) they are all loaded onto the one device. The device that feels and looks the same every time I pick it up.

I am enjoying the book I'm reading...hmmm, strange, as I write that it doesn't feel that I'm reading a 'book'. I am reading, it's worthwhile, a good story, likable characters (especially the dog!), I just don't feel as though I'm reading an actual book. strange.

For travel, the device would be great. We usually take lots of books with us when we travel, books that take up space (in luggage with space that is increasingly valuable) and are heavy (though we do take books we want to leave, continuing them on their Bookcrossing journeys). With an e-reader device there would be more options for what we had available to read at any given time.

The device does make the books more accessible. At one point, I was reading The Passage, which is a BIG hardcover. While I was lugging it to and from work to read it on breaks, I thought that an e-reader device might be handy (though I really LIKED the book itself even if it was heavy).

One of my co-workers owns one of the devices. She commented that sometimes she has a hard time telling how close she is to the end of the book she's reading. It does show which page you're on on the screen, and there is a progress bar at the bottom that shows how far through the book you are (which I liked), AND, she still sometimes feels that the ending sneaks up on her.

So do I want to own one of these devices? I like books themselves too much to think that I would use a device exclusively. Does it serve a purpose? Would I use it sometimes? Probably.

I am reading Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart which is set in the not too distant future. However it's distant enough so that most people use digital devices to read. Lenny, the main character, pulls out a regular book to read on a plane...

"I noticed that some of the first-class people were staring me down for having an open book. 'Duder, that thing smells like wet socks,' said the young jock next to me, a senior Credit ape at LandO'LakesGMFord. I quickly sealed the Chekhov in my carry-on, stowing it far int he overhead bin. As the passengers returned to their flickering displays, I took out my apparat and began to thump it loudly with my finger to show how much I loved all things digital, while sneaking nervous glances at the throbbing cavern around me, the wine-dulled business travelers lost to their own electronic lives."



Customers have expressed concern that reading regular books, book books, will end. And maybe it will. Though I hope not for a long long time.