Farewell, paper...and a question about ereaders.

[holyschist]

I made a first crack at the massive paper backlog and recycled two grocery bags full...and in the process found an uncashed check (!) from last November. So that was nice. Hopefully the second crack will reduce the paper mounds further.

Like a lot of people in this comm, I also have a bit of a book problem. I'm doing better, but books still take up an awful lot of space for us. I could reduce the book space significantly if I replaced most of my fiction collection and part (probably not a very large part) of my nonfiction collection with ebooks...but while I own an ereader (a slightly older Sony), I don't use it much except while traveling. It's not the current generation of eInk, and I don't really like the gray-on-gray screen. It only charges while plugged into my computer, and only while my computer is open...which means not overnight. I forget to charge it. I forget to sync files.

I'm trying to decide whether it might be worth investing in a newer ereader, since the current generation of eInk seems to be much higher contrast, closer to paper (is this true?)...but then I'm not entirely sure that the ereader is my own block against using ebooks for pleasure reading. I do tend to flip around in books; I also read a lot in the bath. I find paper books more comfortable to hold. So maybe I'm hopeless and will never make a switch unless forced...

...but I could free up so much shelf space. Any thoughts?

Comments

[beachlass]

I found my ereader (2nd generation Kobo) replaced the books I would buy to read only once. And so I've tended to try out new authors on it. I can also load epubs on it, which makes it awesome for reading downloaded fanfic. And it is light enough to hold in one hand, like a paperback. It definitely reduced my physical book buying.

I now have a blackberry tablet too, and it has further reduced my paper, because there's so many things (mostly work, but also knitting patterns) I can store on it as pdf files.

[holyschist]

Most of the books I read only once are either from the library or super-cheap at library book sales, so I feel no guilt about giving them to Goodwill or whatever when I'm done. (I have enjoyed putting fanfic on my ereader, but that does nothing about clutter, alas.)