News from Squire's Isle

This is me, trying my best to keep my promise to update this thing more often!

For a long time, I’ve been a big anti-Kindle/Nook person. I like the feel of a book. I’ll pay extra for a certain edition of a book just because I prefer the cover. I like turning pages, I like holding it in my hand, and I like being able to thumb through the pages to see how far I have to go for the next chapter break. I’m very much a traditionalist when it comes to that.

That said, since I’ve started reviewing books more frequently for Geek Speak Magazine, I’ve found myself considering an e-reader. Probably a Nook. I’ve heard more good (and that would be a higher frequency of good things, not a grammatical-fail way of saying “better”) things about Nooks than Kindles. And there ARE  books out there that are a fraction of the cost in e-book version.

Also, sometimes shipping cost/time is just overwhelming. I ordered a book from England this month (Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, VERY worth everything I’m about to complain about) and waited eleven days for shipping. Not only that, the shipping cost about the same as the book itself. All because I wanted to get it with the right cover/title (Rivers of London, much more evocative than Midnight Riot, am I right?). I could have paid half the price and started reading it that night if I had a Nook.

So I’m not making a permanent shift to ebooks. I’ll probably still read 80% REAL books, with the ink and the paper and that satisfying moment when you finish the book and slap it shut. But for Geek Speak, which only sends epub copies of books for review, and for other things like advance copies of books from my friends (I’m still giddy I got to read Lost Things before anyone else)… yeah. I’m probably going to end up with a Nook before Christmas.

And if you thought I read a lot of books before… watch out.