The Nook

I thought that it would be interesting to write a post about my thoughts on my Nook. well, interesting for me anyway. at first, I will admit that I was not into the "E-reader" phenomenon. I am a huge bookworm; I love reading, but I also love books themselves. I think that you can love reading, and not neccesarily love the concept of a book in general if that makes sense. I love having a book in my hands, holding it. I love turning the pages, I love stroking the page as I am reading it, that beautiful sound it makes when I do that. I love the smell of books: the new book smell, the old book smell. I love stroking the cover of a book as I hold it in my lap. I love the feeling of knowing that I am holding a story, another world, in my hands. you do not get that with E-readers. however, in the end I decided to get a Kindle. it did feel like I was going over to the other side, but I loved it. it was nice because I would do Weekend Campaigns, and I would fly during Christmas to go see my parents, so it was nice not having to carry lots of books with me when I went on those trips, especially during SBCs. also, I found it nice because I could put books on it that I knew I would not read over and over again. I still prefered books, but it was nice being able to get the classics for free, and a lot of "complete works of..." collections for free or for less than a dollar. however, my Kindle kept breaking, the screen would half freeze, and I would have to keep sending it bacl for a free replacement. it happened when I first got to China, and that took weeks for a replacement, because they sent it to my parents because they could not sent it to China, and my parents sent it to me. eventually I got it, but during my trip to Southeast Asia, it broken again and so that was the last straw. same problem, about 4 times! I decided to get a Nook instead, from Barnes and Nobles. I was worried since my Kindle was 3G, and the Nook was only Wifi, but in the end, I decided I could just use the USB to download the books to it, and Aubrey, one of the teachers I was traveling with, had a Nook and she said it had not really mattered to her that it was not 3G, she just used the USB. so, I went for it. from our hostel in Vietnam(after emailing my parents and asking if they would mind buying me a Nook)I ordered my Nook. the Simple Touch Nook, is only $99, so it was not too expensive. I bought a case for it, and a Power Outlet for it, and a screen protector kit. all in all, less than buying a Kindle, at least the $180 Kindle. they could not ship it to China, so I shipped it to my parents, and my parents shipped it to me when I got back to Haerbin a month later, so I had to wait a good  month and a half for my Nook.

   My thoughts on the Nook are that I LOVE it! I actually prefer it to the Kindle(when I say this, I am talking about the version of the Kindle that I had. I hold judgement on the new versions of the Kindle all throughout this post). It was a little frustrating when I was setting it up, because you needed Wifi to set it up, but the teachers downstairs have wifi, so I used theirs. so that is what I use when I want to download the Nook Books I buy online on my laptop to my Nook, so it had turned out pretty well, and in the USA, finding wifi is not a problem. I love my Nook. It is smaller than the Kindle, and thinner, so it does not feel like it takes up as much room, and the kindle is pretty light so that is saying something. the kindle I had also had a keyboard, and the Nook does not, so that helps me to feel like I am reading a book. I also think that the Nook is more organized than the Kindle. on the Home page for the Nook, it shows me which book I was last reading, and what page I am on, along with the total number of pages in the book. it also lists the last 3-4 books that I bought, and it also gives Barnes and Nobles recommendation based on the books I've bought. in the Library, instead of a list like on the Kindle, it shows the cover of the book(I also have the option of putting it as a list). which is another thing I love. I think that the Nook does a better job of giving you the actual cover picture of the book, unlike the kindle which just gave you the kindle version of the cover, which was the name of the book and the author. I love having the actual cover picture of the book, and I love having the library be the cover pictures. also, if you wanted to make group of books, a collection, it has its own section for that(shelves) and it does not show up on the Library, unlike the Kindle where when you make a collection of books, it shows up in the library. same with magazines. the magazines still show up in the library, but you can go to the Newsstand section and see them there as well. it's a lot more organized than the Kindle, at least the version of the Kindle I had. some things I do not like about it is that because it is a Touch, it's easy to accidently turn the page when you are reading, and highlighting is a little difficult, but i am getting the hang of it. other than that, I love my Nook and I definetly think it an improvement over the Kindle I had.

   I do still love my books, and I have bought some at the bookstore in Center Street in Haerbin where they sell English books, and I have bought several of those. I think that aside from my DVDs, my books will be my heaviest things I'll bring back, at least as a whole. I love e-reader, because I can buy books at a less and see if I like them, and if I do, then I can make the choice to buy the actual book. and my Nook is super good! I truly love it!