The Next Best Book Club discussion

I am an avid reader. Can't get enough of it. I have been torn in my decision to buy a Nook or Kindle. I've heard such great reviews on both but my heart still lies with a good old fashioned book. The smell and the weight of a book is like an aphrodisiac. However, the times are changin' and it would be helpful on the pocket and if the electronic reader gets its way then on trees as well. Help!!!!!!

Before starting new threads, please check around the group and make sure we havent already started discussing the same thing. With the massive member count, and new threads appearing every day, the group page can quickly get bogged down with too many similar discussions.

Its so much easier to just post to an older thread and bring it back to life than have 4 or 5 of the same ones going at the same time.

Thanks.

I have now started to use my nook. I do find it heavy cause of the leather bound protection that I bought for it. I guess I'll have to remove it when I am using it. I downloaded "The Kitchen House" in it cause I couldn't find it at Borders. It's a good read. I just hope I get use to using the new device.

I have both a Kindle and a Nook which I just absolutely adore. I also have regular books that intersperse by reading on my e-readers.

Anytime I feel the need, I just pick up an "actual" book and read, but I find I miss my e-readers!

I got a Kindle for Christmas ... so far, I'm enjoying it immensely. I don't find it more cumbersome than a large paperback, even with a cover, but when I try to hold it in one hand I keep bumping buttons. One thing that I just LOVE and which surprised me is the ability to switch to different font sizes. If the lighting goes down, or my eyes get tired, it's amazing how much just bumping the font size helps.

I got a Nook for Christmas. Unfortunately I ended up in the hospital on Wednesday & didnt get out til today. Boy was I happy that I had my Nook. I wasnt awake very much but when I could read it was very nice having. It would also make traveling easier. It fit great in my purse. But I do agree nothing feels as good as turning a page. I just have a hard time believing that real books wont be around forever.

I have been using my kindle for 4 months now, and I am really glad with my purchase. But one thing to consider is that the Kindle does not support ePub format, so if you want to buy a book on Google Books or Kobo store you will need to convert to the kindle format (not sure if its legal though).

One thing that I love about ebook readers is that I can purchase a book in the middle of the night and start reading it immediately.

I have a Nook and absolutely love it! It is a little bit easier on the pocket book to buy the e-books. And I found that the Nook works better for me than the Kindle did. I have messed with the Kindle and the Sony EReader, as well as the Nook, and I think it is all about personal preferences when it comes to making the final decision on which one is for you.

And I have also found that there are certain books that I would prefer to read in bound book form and I get those and read those instead of getting them on my Nook. And if I ever feel the need to whole an actual book, I either pick one up that I have laying around the house, or I go find one and buy it and read it! I have found that it is just as comfy, for me at least, to cuddle up on the couch with my Nook as it was a book.

Only problem I am currently having with my Nook right now is I can't get it to charge. I think my kids spilled something on the cord and it fried it. BUT! I got an awesome warranty on it and am going to take it back tomorrow if I can't get it to charge today and get another one.

Suzanne I totally agree with what you said about ebooks vs "real" books!

If I prefer to read a book bound (or just want to flip through it) I just buy that, read it and put it on my bookshelf, but there are a lot of books I just like to read and not really need to have; bound, on a shelf.

I got my Sony PRS-350 just 2 weeks ago and I'm totally in love with it! It's so light and small and contains so many books! I travel a lot by train and I love that with my ereader I can take several books with me and decide on the spot in what I want to read (depending on my mood). And reading from a e-ink screen is a better than I thought possible!

As I said: I'm in LOVE with my e-reader!

I will never own any of those electronic books thingies!! I am a book sniffer and I love to see my shelves exploding with books. I lvoe holding them. I love their covers, and I love to know how much more I have left or how far I have gotten in the book. I hate those %'s!!! BUt I am not knocking the electronic. If that's your thing then hey go for it! It made my brother in law read a lot more often then he normally would!!!

Donna, my best friend said the same thing, she even made fun of my Nook when I let her play with it, but then she saw the Nook color and made her husband get it for her for Christmas. So, being the good best friend that I am, I tease her about it constantly, lol. I guess my point is, you never know. One may come along and strike your fancy...

Donna, on the Nook it gives your progress in page numbers at the bottom. Just saying. I don't know about any of the others.

And if I just kept buying all of the books that I have since bought on my Nook (I've got over 200 books on it right now!) I wouldn't have a living room! It would be just books everywhere! lol

And yes, LadyHeather, I am totally in love with the e-ink screens! No backlight to mess with my eyes or anything! Oh, and I love that I can change the font and size of the book I am reading if I need to!

I was like you...bookshelves and books everywhere. And then my wife and I downsized our living space, and there were just TOO MANY books. Alot of what I have are classics from college and graduate school and general nerdiness. Most of those books are free and legally available now as ebooks. So my wife did her research on readers, and I ended up with a Nook for our anniversary in May.
I have replaced almost every book I owned in e-reader format for less than $100. I bought a 16 gig memory card and can now carry an entire library with me wherever I go. I found that I read almost twice as much being able to carry all my books with me. I can switch at will and never get bored.

I am reminded of watching Star Trek as a kid and being jealous that Picard had all his books on one little datapad. Thank you, Gene Rodenberry.

And if I just kept buying all of the books that I have since bought ..."

I totally agree! I would soon have nowhere to live if I kept buying books at this rate!
Love the size, love the screen, love the memory which stores an entire library, love the dictionary, love everything! (and I used to think I would never, or at least not for a few years, get an e-reader ;) so you never know... )

the sony shows page progress too :)

Donna, I love my Nook too. Changing the font size is awesome. Does that change the amount of pages in the book? I have a real library of over 1,000 books. I'm really going to try to read some of them this year just to get them out of my apartment. I live in an effiency (sp?) with less than 600 sq ft. Half of my walk-in closet, half of my pantry and a big bookcase in the living room makes me feel like a hoarder! :)
Astrangerhere, I too love the fact that I can carry a whole library around with me every where I go.

Suzanne wrote: "I have a Nook and absolutely love it! It is a little bit easier on the pocket book to buy the e-books. And I found that the Nook works better for me than the Kindle did. I have messed with the K.

It's a good thing that you got the wanranty on it. Mine is only for a year. I didn't want to spend more for it. I am very careful how or where I use it...lol

Jennifer wrote: "Donna, my best friend said the same thing, she even made fun of my Nook when I let her play with it, but then she saw the Nook color and made her husband get it for her for Christmas. So, being the..."

Good thought Jennifer.

Suzanne wrote: "Donna, on the Nook it gives your progress in page numbers at the bottom. Just saying. I don't know about any of the others.

And if I just kept buying all of the books that I have since bought ..."

I have about 57 books in my nook. They are mostly cheap books or classics. I just recently bought The Kitchen House and Major Pettygrew's Las Stand. I really wanted to read those two and paid less than 10 bucks for them.

Ok I gotta admit I do love the idea of changing the font size. After awhile (even with my glasses) my eyes get too tired to see any mroe and that would truly help!! And I def think I would buy more than I do now (if that's possible LOL). I am sure I would love it but I tihnk I love my books more now and you guys may be right, I may change my tune!

BTW astrangerhere, I can totally understand. We've always had a small apt. and I never had nearly as much books but now that our livingroom in very book accomidating we buy more but we may have to move soo and I just hope that there is enough space for my books!

Even the thought of moving all of my books makes me shudder! :)

I love my Kindle. I have about 50 books on it already. I find I can read faster on the Kindle than a book and I love the ability to change the font size as my eyes are getting older. I also have arthritis in my thumbs so holding a large book became painful. Sometimes I will even turn on the Read to Me feature when I am driving. The only negative with the Kindle is that I am continually buying books for it. I think Amazon should have a frequent buyer program.

I was very hesitant about eBook readers at first for all those reasons already mentioned. I borrowed my husband's to read one book he had that I didn't in paper and didn't really like it. He has one of the original Sony Readers. I didn't like the buttons for turning pages and whatnot. Also, I tend to flip back through books I've read to pick out certain quotes and passages.

Then the Sony Touch edition came out and it changed everything! I can now change pages with a swipe of my thumb which feels far more natural! I can add "folded corners" to pages, highlight text and even scribble notes in the margins. My favourite feature has to be the built in dictionary. You just tap an unfamiliar word and a definition pops up. Love it!

All that being said, I will admit that I have not used other brands of readers. I had a friend who had a Kobo but got really frustrated with it and ended up switching to Sony. The Kindle seems really popular. The built in wi-fi and Wiki access seem super cool!

And generally speaking, thanks to the E ink screens that all eBook readers are made with, your eyes will not fatigue any more than they would if you were staring at paper.

lol, I wish Amazon did too...I took a look at my account - since I bought my kindle in 2008, I have purchased over 1000 books from Amazon - that isn't including all the ones i've gotten from other publishers...

Dero wrote: "I love my Kindle. I have about 50 books on it already. I find I can read faster on the Kindle than a book and I love the ability to change the font size as my eyes are getting older. I also have..."

I have a question about the Sony ereader. When I have looked up books on GR I haven't noticed if there is an ereader edition of the books. I have noticed Kindle ebooks, but not other ebooks. How would you go about getting the right edition under your my books or would you just have to go with a different edition than the one that you're reading on your Sony ereader?

Karendenice wrote: "I have a question about the Sony ereader. When I have looked up books on GR I haven't noticed if there is an ereader edition of the books. I have noticed Kindle ebooks, but not other ebooks. How wo..."

We use software called "Calibre" that will take virtually any version and convert it to something readable by virtually any device. Even so, I'm pretty sure different brands of eReaders wouldn't have their own exclusive format. I think most eBooks come out as ePub which is readable on any of the readers. If you're not sure, use Calibre. It's free and easy to use.

I'm not an expert but I hope that helps!

Bonnie, I'm not very computer savy, so here goes. If you know the answers that is, which I'm sure you know obviously alot more than I do. I Calibre a softerward like Adobe that you download on your computer? I have some books on a Nook. Do you know if there is a way to transfer them from the Nook to the Sony650? I do know that the Sony does read ePub but when I talked to the salesman at Sony he seemed to think that I could not transfer them from the Nook to the Sony.

Karendenice wrote: "Bonnie, I'm not very computer savy, so here goes. If you know the answers that is, which I'm sure you know obviously alot more than I do. I Calibre a softerward like Adobe that you download on your..."

It's my Computer Science geek husband that got all this figured out so I can't take all the credit!

Yes, Calibre is a program you can download from the Internet for free. You can check it here: http://calibre-ebook.com/

I just did a little checking and the Nook does have a USB port so you can connect it to your computer. (I'm not sure how it would work if you used wi-fi.) You should be able to upload the books from your Nook through Calibre (or maybe even copy & paste) onto your hard drive. Once they are in Calibre, you can download them onto your Sony Reader.

I skipped a few details in how it all works but I think the Calibre website has tutorials. Or if you try it and run into problems I can try to help you out a bit more. Maybe message me if you want more details on how to do this.

Bonnie, you're a doll. I was going to pick up the Sony today. When I called them they said that Best But, Walmart and Target all had them. I went to all of them and Walmart and Target don't carry them anymore. And Best Buy only had the pocket one and the largest one available. But tomorrows another day. :) I'll definitely be getting back to you if I can't figure it out. And Thanks.

I got a Kindle as a gift from my boss for Christmas. I had been wanting one for a while after my younger brother got one and I couldn't justify spending the money.

Now that I have it, I love love love it. It's amazing. I've gotten free books off of there (yay!) and use it quite often. I enjoy not having to find my place. Plus it's thin and light, easy to stick my coat pocket or purse so I can take it anywhere. Not that I can't with a book, but this takes up less space. Plus, I have an issue with switching between books, and this lets me only carry one thing instead of three books.

That being said, it does have a down side. It doesn't light up, which bothers me, only because I'd love to be able to turn the light off when I go to bed, read for a little while, and pass out. I hate having to get up when I'm all cozy and warm.

I like the concept of the Kindle or Nook, but there's something so priceless about holding a book and seeing your bookmark split the pages to show your progress. I love reading from actual books. I'm sure it's cheaper to have an electronic reader, but I am a traditionalist.

I love books and Nooks!! I do both!

I always said that I didn't want a Kindle. I never saw a need for them, because I'm one of those people that just has to have a book on my shelf, so much so that I'll buy books that I've already read just to have them around. But I recently realized how useful they are for school. I'm an English major, and I spend a bunch of money every semester on textbooks. Since most of the books we read are free on places like Project Gutenberg, I can save a lot of money on books for class by just downloading them on my Kindle, especially since I got my Kindle as a gift and didn't have to pay for it. Not only do I save money, but it means less stuff I need to carry in my backpack as I run across campus. I can also put PDFs that our teachers send us on there instead of having to print them out. So, while I still prefer to read on a real book, and while I'll still be buying and checking out books to read for pleasure, I'm glad that I got a Kindle for school purposes.

I recently purchased an Epad. Mainly to be able to read ebooks while riding my exercise bike. I have about 50 books downloaded. If I'd purchased the books in traditional form, I'd have to buy another bookcase.

I am disappointed that many of the new books are not much cheaper when you are buying the e-book over the printed book. How can you charge the same price for a virtual book vs printing costs? I hope the extra goes to the author, but I doubt it.

Finally, FYI, we read The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif for our book club and I found the family tree at the front of the book and the glossary of Egyptian terms at the end of the book very helpful. The e-reader books that several of our book club members read started on the first page of text and they never saw the family tree. Also there wasn't a table of contents, so they didn't realize there was a glossary until they finished the book (or saw my review on Goodreads).

I don't own a Kindle or a Nook yet, but I have been very impressed with the Kindles I have seen. I really do believe there's something to be said about a paper book though that you can carry with you anywhere, and doesn't require electricity!

I'm disappointed but not surprised to learn that some eBooks are priced the same as paper. I imagine the publishers are trying to make money where they can, considering the way eBooks are often priced so much lower than traditional paper books.

I don't like reading ebooks. Not nearly as fun. You can't feel the paper texture and smell the pages as you go along.. and I love used books especially.. like the little notes people write in there to their loved ones.

I feel the same way. However, I wonder how long we will have paper books the way things are going now. Hopefully, enough people feel the way that we do, that the market for paper books remains.

I love my kindle. But I recognize the flaws in it.

I have a first generation kindle. I've been thinking of upgrading to the newest version (touch, but still uses e-ink) - but can't really justify the expense to myself as mine works fine and really isn't that old. But it is kind of frustrating that they keep releasing new versions that are supposed to be better but seem to be just prettier hardware.

I find that if the book isn't too long or too complicated I can enjoy it as an ebook. Mysteries, genre fiction, etc. - basically anything that I don't have to flip back and reread portions of the book to keep up with the plot. More difficult books such as translated books and author's with complicated prose styles are a nightmare.

Also, I don't think that publishers have gotten the formatting of ebooks right yet. In fact, I'm not sure they've put much thought into it at all other than transferring to digital. I wish they'd spend as much time on that as they seem to spend on pimping out my kindle!

For those reasons I don't think anyone needs to worry about print books going anywhere anytime soon. I actually believe both formats can, and will, continue to coexist for some time.

I do hope that they continue to publish paper books.

I hear that you can search the text in an ebook, so it might make it easier to find something that I am looking back to find. Rather than looking at the bottom of all left hand pages...ha, ha. And I would love the bookmarking capability and I hate writing in paper books, but I might not mind writing notes in an ebook.

I guess I should borrow my daughter's nook and find out if I need one too.

I received a Kindle Fire for Christmas and at first I was a little worried that I wouldn't like it. But I've gotten used to it, and for whatever reason, I feel like I read faster on it. I'll never stop reading actual books, though. I love the smell/feel of new books too much to ever do that. I also want to see if I like reading in the dark with my Kindle. :P

Scott wrote: "Read a horror novel in the dead dark with a Kindle Fire in the x-ray mode. Even better, have it play some dark ambient music at the same time."

X-ray mode? lol. There are probably a few things I don't know about my Kindle. :/

Absolutely agree, have had a kobo for a month and it's amazing. I'm addicted to young adult novels now which would mean about 25 more books clogging the shelves with all the series. I literally just read the first book of two new awesome YA fantasy series for free. Both awesome books, for free. Megg Jensens'- Anathema and Tara Brown Cursed, The Devils Roses. Love love love my ereader!!!!!!

I can still read a book after I sit on it. I think it's best for me (and my wallet) if I stick with my books. They are much more forgiving.

Another thing I like about the Kindle is being able to check out e-books from my local library. I don't know how many libraries do this, but it's a very cool feature.

I love my Kobo. It's in my purse evrywhere I go and I therefore am never caught without reading material when I find myself waiting for something or someone. When travelling there are no dilemmas about which or how many books to take. I try to be good and read classics as well as contemporary fiction and love that they are so often free to upload.
The downside however is that I do still love 'real' books and I am increasingly panic stricken at how rapidly my local bookstore is turning into a gift/homeware store. I suppose the demise of the traditional book is inevitable but I feel ashamed that I am a part of that.

im getting a kindle touch today !!!!! very happy about it since i hear its alot better then the nook

Wendy wrote: "Another thing I like about the Kindle is being able to check out e-books from my local library. I don't know how many libraries do this, but it's a very cool feature."


Wendy, I so agree with you about checking e-books out of the public library. In fact, sometimes those books that have HUGE waiting lists are much shorter for the e-books. Wish more titles were there.

In Los Angeles, they recently added to the system the capability for Kindle readers to be able to do this FREE book check out.

Another thing I love about checking out e-books ... when the loan period is over, they self-return! No more late fines!!

Alycia wrote: "Another thing I love about checking out e-books ... when the loan period is over, they self-return! No more late fines!!"

I've been wondering about what the heck to do with the e-books after I'm done with them! lol

Alycia wrote: "Another thing I love about checking out e-books ... when the loan period is over, they self-return! No more late fines!!"

That would save me a ton of money...lol