Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Flipping to The Darkside: I got an ereader!

So, I finally did it. I got an ereader.

Can you hear the Death Star's anthem in the background? Vader's heavy breathing? "Charli, welcome to the Darkside. Which book will you buy first?"

I must digress here. This reminds me of my daughter's recent nightmare with Valdemort. He's a greeter at a local grocery store, "Welcome to Valde-Mart, we're here for you home shopping needs."  I guess Vader and Valdemort will be my greeters over at Amazon. VAder, VAldemort. Hmm, never thought about that.

Snort. Any who. Part of me did and still do feel like such a sell out. I love real books. I love perusing the shelves of real bookstores. No gadget can ever replace the crisp pages in my hands. But another part of me, that Vader we have in all of us, is relishing my new toy.

With gift certiciates burning a hole in my purse I trodded off to the good old electronics store, you know that big blue and yellow one. The techno-freak of a hubby assisted me with my selection. After about five minutes of me not looking at the one he wanted me to get he basically ordered one of the Geeks to snatch me up a Samsung Galaxy Tab. "You're getting this one." I am not the techy. He works part time at the store (just for the discount he gets and is completely addicited to) and basically said that for fifty bucks more I can have all this wonderous thing had to offer, email. internet, apps, yada.

Whatever. I just wanted an ereader and bought the thing.

How did I come to the decision to get what I once called the enemy? Honestly, it was simple. I've been wanting to get Catching Fire for weeks and its only available in hardback. Kind of expensive when you're tying to sell a kidney to send the teen off to private school at the tune of 12 big ones. I have to cut back. Books are a HUGE part of my budget. Since I had gift cards from my birthday and mother's day it was basically free.

Then I logged on and bought two books. One for $5.99 and another for $3.99.

Ha-cha-cha-ching!

However, there will always be books I MUST have a hardcopy of. Like Sarah Jio's upcoming release, Blackberry Winter. Like any Nicholas Sparks novel. Like Alma Katsu's The Reckoning. The cover alone screams you must have this one, fo'reals.

I devoured Catching Fire in two days and bought Mockingjay right away. As a writer there are so many books I must read for craft purposes but I may not necessarily want them crowding my bookshelf. I may even go digital with the craft periodicals. It's easier on the environments and lack of shelf space in my home. I may even subsribe to more magazines this way.

Although I once thought of the ereading revolution as the death to traditional publishing, I can see now that it's actually letting people read more. Like me. What are some e-books that you've bought recently? Share your own e-books too.