As if deciding which book to read wasn't hard enough ...

... now I'm trying to decide what format to read it in.

My stepson showed up here the other day with an Amazon Kindle, which was quite a relief to me as I'd been concerned that the chiropractic industry was giving kickbacks to the local high schools in return for loading up the kids' backpacks with books - and judging by the size of his backpack, they are paying by the pound.

So I'm checking out his Kindle and developing a wicked case of gadget envy until I inquire, "Can you read library ebooks on it?"

He gives me his best Why Should I Care It's Not Like I'm The One Paying look, and I go off to do some research. Yes, you can check ebooks out of the local library. Unfortunately, you can't read them on a Kindle unless you decide to pony up for the $489 model, which kind of eliminates the whole library-book-money-saving thing.

So I load up his Kindle with free previews of books I think he should read and decide, maybe I should do some more research. After all, the best cure for gadget envy is getting a better gadget. Not that I would attempt to have a gadget duel with a 15-year-old boy. I mean, that would be wrong.*

My good friend Col over at Col Reads has high praise for the iPhone's Kindle app, but that would involve me getting an iPhone and to be honest, someone who has not yet mastered texting should probably not be allowed to carry that much technology in her purse. Not to mention, I work from my house and thus have constant access to my computer, so I can't really justify the ongoing cost of an iPhone, much as I'd like to (and believe me, I've tried). 

Marie over at the Boston Bibliophile has high praise for her Sony eReader, which I've checked out and unfortunately, it didn't do much for me. The Sony does allow library eBooks and I thought it would be The One, but we had a blind date at the demo counter at Borders and we're not heading up the aisle anytime soon. The navigation was not intuitive to me, and I found the type, at least on the two models I saw, didn't look like a page of a book.  

But her post enlightened me on another key point about eReaders: They have accessories!

How has this escaped my notice?

She has an amazing, beautiful eReader cover bought from an etsy seller, who appears to make covers for all the differnt types of eReaders, so when I do finally find one I want to commit to (at least, until our inevitable technical-obsolescence-induced divorce), I can dress it up for every occasion. After surfing around etsy and buying some other fun things that I intend to pass off as things I made myself**, I checked around a bit and discovered many, many eReader accessories, several of which I must have, starting with Barnes and Noble's cute little Alice In Wonderland cover for the Nook.

I'm starting to feel a bit like Muriel in Muriel's Wedding - trying on the wedding dresses without actually having a groom lined up. I haven't checked out the Nook in person yet and now the Kobo is coming. Hopefully one of them will be The One. 


* Because I'd lose.
** I'm creative but hard-pressed to come up with the kind of craft-making time some folks seem to have.