My First Experience With The Nook

I’ve internally debated e-readers for a long time. The story that swayed me towards books was one day in an elevator a lady had a book in her purse. A random rider asked her about the book because she could see the cover. I thought to myself, that would never happen if an e-reader was sticking out of her purse. That was the final straw the made me choose books over e-readers.

Many friends have tried to persuade me to use an e-reader. I finally caved when a work acquaintance lent me her Nook. I read a few chapters of The Paris Wife on it. I’ll go over what I thought the goods and bads were from the Nook.

The Goods: Maybe it was mental, but I swear I read faster on the Nook. The reading flowed easier for my eyes. It’s easy to turn on and get right to the page. It’s convenient to carry around. The screen looks just like a book (it’s NOT hard on the eyes). The bright menu screen goes dark when reading too. I learned after that I could change the pages with a swipe of the screen. I think I would like that. 

The Bads: I wasn’t sure how to hold it. It’s weird. I ended up sitting it on my lap for the most part. When I laid down, it was a slightly easier to read than a book. I found I sometimes had to push a bit harder on the button to turn the pages. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to leave my finger on the button or constantly take it on and off. I dislike the blackness of the screen when changing pages. When starting a new chapter, I wasn’t sure how many pages were in the chapter (for instance, if I was reading before bed, I wouldn’t want to start a chapter that was 30 pages long).

Obviously that's a short list, but those are the things I noticed when reading. I know there are way more benefits of an e-reader, such as being able to buy a book right away versus driving to the store or waiting for shipping to arrive. My final verdict is I wouldn’t get an e-reader just yet. I still like old-fashioned books. I like the feel, I like flipping through the pages. Maybe I just need some more time getting used to an e-reader.