Ok, this here is my review of the Nook I got for my birthday from Al.  I was one of those who thought I would miss the feel of the book, the turning of the pages, the smell of the paper.  A few years back a patient of mine (RIP, Joanie) was unable to hold books anymore and she got a Kindle because a friend of hers, who was a non-stop reader, saw the guy next to her at the health club using his while he worked out on the elliptical.  He said he loved it so her friend thought she’d give it a try, even though she’d miss the feel of the book, the turning of the pages, the smell of the paper.   Turns out she loved it.

It has taken me awhile, but I’ve just read my first complete book on my Nook. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (recommend? meh – it was a bit of a page turner but pretty creepy all in all).  It was 426 pages long and the only thing I didn’t like was that I had to glance down at the corner to see that I was on page 153/426.  I kind of like being able to look at the book and know I’m getting there.  On the whole, however, it was quite nice.  The Nook is very light, so light that it felt like I wasn’t holding anything at all.  Apparently I got used to having to push the little button on the side to get to the next page, because I somehow got to the end of the book without realizing that I needed to push the button.  I read a lot of the book when I was nursing my cold in bed yesterday, and you know how you get tired of holding a book in bed – none of that.

All in all I’m pretty pleased.  I don’t think I’ll use it all the time – the books are expensive to download from Barnes and Noble, and the places on the internet where you can download for free scare me a bit – there’s got to be a catch.  I am going to look into where you can download e-books from the local library.  I don’t know if that’s possible here but I am sure that before long it will be a standard process.   One thing I plan to do is download the B & N “Essentials” collections – collections of classics (I’m surprised at how many I have never read) for less than $5.

So I think of it this way – if I am travelling and have 100 classic books at my fingertips, and all I have to pack is a Nook, and maybe download a newer book to the Nook for $12 – well, what’s not to like?

My only recommendation – since I got my Nook they have come out with one (Kindle or Nook, I’m not sure) where instead of pushing the button to move to the next page you just swipe your finger across the screen like an iPhone.  That would definitely be worth a little extra money.

So, there’s my Nook review for you.