Bookworm

Happy Friday! It's a gray and dreary day here, but I can't complain -- it could be cold and dumping feet of snow. Besides, I finally got a Christmas present last night. My long-awaited nook is here! For a bookworm like me who lives out in the sticks, it's the perfect gadget. I can easily go through one novel a week. Two if I stay up late reading or don't have a freelance writing project to work on.

Having the nook means I can buy new releases online for a fraction of the price, download & start reading them -- all on the same day. No more driving 40-some miles (that's one way, folks) to the nearest bookstore or blowing the budget ordering books online.

My bookshelves are overflowing & now I won't spend as much money on books -- or need to find a place to store them. The nook stores up to 1,500 books, which is a few more than I own.

I haven't even had the nook for 24 hours, and I am hooked. Once you figure out what you're doing, it's easy. Their instructions could be written better, but I figured things out after a few false starts. Whoever wrote the inserts that came with the nook needs to rewrite them. Wonder if I could send my suggestions to them? (Just kidding.)

The display is really cool -- if you're thinking, "Well, I could just download the FREE e-reader software and read books on my computer," think again. The nook's display is a trademarked E Ink that is as close as paper and ink as you can get without actually being paper and ink. There's no glare or backlight like with a computer screen, so your eyes won't get fatigued.

I did (and still have) a glitch when it comes to registering using my home wifi. Barnes & Noble goofed up on that front, as there are a lot of complaints online about this. Apparently, the best way to register your nook is to go to the brick & mortar Barnes & Noble store and access their AT&T 3G wifi. I'm curious to see if I will be able to order books via my home wifi once I register. If not, it's not a big disaster because you can still side load via your PC. In layman's terms: you can purchase the e-book on your computer and download it to your nook via a USB cord.

I'm still not giving up reading "real" books -- after all, with my klutziness and accidental swims, I'm defintely not taking my nook to the pool or in the bathtub.

So if I don't blog over the next few days, it's because I'm absorbed with my new toy!