A while back I wrote a post about how much I love to read. Seriously, I love the smell of a new book. Some people like the smell of grass, rain, or dirt after it rains (which I think smells like worms, even though worms don’t exactly have a scent). I like the smell of bound paper.
For Christmas I got a bookshelf, and recently I finally got around to putting it together. It didn’t take long for my nine, yes nine boxes of books to fill the five shelves. When I ran out of room I had to resort to using my cube organizer to store the overflow. And when that filled up I’ve just started laying books wherever I can.
You see, I don’t always read books straight through. I start and stop all the time. So, at any given time I have at least three books on the nightstand or next to the recliner or sofa or some place that can hold a book. At the rate I was going, my whole cat room/reading room was going to be just book shelves. I needed a solution that didn’t include not reading. I remembered a post y2kemo wrote on e-readers. That’s when I got the idea to splurge.
I decided to buy myself a Nook. It’s the fancy schmancy Barnes and Noble e-reader, and it is awesome. I could probably talk endlessly about its many features, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll share a mere 5 totally awesome things about the Nook.
1. Free Fridays every Friday. Who wouldn’t want a free book? Beats me. With the Nook I can head to to B&N each Friday and pick a book that I can download for free. FOR FREE! It could be a winner or two page turner. Who cares it’s FREE!
2. Font sizes. OK, so not everyone will be excited about this feature, but I like it. As a total nerd and bookworm I find it annoying when I get a book and the font is so small I have to put glasses on my glasses to read the text. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen. The Nook allows me to choose from extra small to extra large. Seriously my mother could read a book with ease <– and she’s been around since before the printing press.
3. Dictionary. I am not a genius. I cannot possibly know every definition of every word. So if I come across a word that stumps me, I have the option to look it up right there on the Nook. I know I have my iPhone right next to me and it can do the same thing, but I am saving myself a few seconds by using the Nook.
4. One hour each day of reading for free at a B&N store. Log on to their WiFi network and you can read most any ebook for free for one hour. It took a little bit to load ’cause there were a buttload of emo kids on laptops hogging the bandwidth. Once I got it going it was pretty cool. I know I could have just picked out a paperback and read it for an hour, but I do not like desecrating a book before it finds an owner. It’s like using Charmin in the grocery store aisle and putting it back on the roll. Seriously? Who wants to buy a new book that has a big crease down the spine? Not me (and I wouldn’t buy used TP either).
5. Overdrive. This is the best feature. Overdrive is a program that allows libraries to lend ebooks to compatible devices (yes y2kemo, your wife can totally get ebooks on her iPad). Truth be told, Overdrive is the main reason I chose the Nook over the Kindle. Here’s how it works. You get a library card. And then you…uh…son of a! OK, this part was difficult. I really had no idea how to use Overdrive to get an ebook on my Nook. However, when I hit the forums I came across a great website that took me step-by-step from checking out a book to returning it. FYI, you have to download Adobe Digital Editions and create an account so you can authorize your device and save your books. Once I got Overdrive up and running it’s been cake. So far I’ve checked out and returned eleven books, and I’m on a waiting list for another eight. And, the books that I have I can keep for up to 21 days. I generally return mine earlier than that because there are other people waiting on the book, and there’s really no sense in keeping a book I’ve finished. Come to think of it, I’ve borrowed or am borrowing a total of 19 books. So, if each book costs ten dollars, then I’ve already paid for the Nook in library books. Pretty cool huh?
Well that’s my short list of things I think are totally awesome about the Nook. There are other features that are nice, such as the touch screen, the ability to swipe the darkened touch screen to turn the page, and being able to customize your wallpaper. I, of course, have my cat Bater as my wallpaper. There is also the LendMe feature, but I have yet to try that out. If you were to ask me, I’d say run and get yourself a Nook. If you do, perhaps you can and I can share a few books.
So what do you think about the Nook? Are you going to run out and get the new one? Chime in below, follow @Batersmom, or send me an e-mail at TiTy@y2kemo.com.
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