Just Do It

So your friends all have e-readers—either a Kindle, Nook, tablet, iPad, what have you—but you can’t imagine reading without the feel of a hard cover or dog-eared paperback in your hands. Let me tell you. Before I published Curse Me Not as an e-book last year, I would have been right there with you.

Thing is . . . and I mean this in the nicest possible way . . . it’s time to get over yourself. No, e-readers aren’t for everywhere. I can just imagine what the sand would do to my tablet at Myrtle Beach. But I’ve found that the seaside is about the only place I wouldn’t take it.

Consider these benefits:

• You can consolidate shelves of books onto one small device. (Think of the space you’d free up at home for more shoes!) Not only that, your personal library would be automatically backed up since your license to own whatever books you buy is stored online.
• You can change the font size—or even the font itself—of what you're reading to just about anything that makes it easier on your eyes. Gone are the days when you have to put up with penny-pinching publishers who produce books in such small fonts that you need a magnifying glass to peruse them. Hell, even e-ink (and yes, there really is such a word) is easier on the eyes since it never smudges.
• You can eat and read at the same time (one of my favorite pastimes!) without juggling book and fork, without getting gravy smears on book pages, without losing your place when you stop to get a spoonful. In fact, with the simplest of props (mine’s a brass candlestick) you can free up both hands to eat while you read.
• You can check out e-books from the library (free with a library card!) without having to brave icy streets, rush hour traffic or shortening your lunch break.
• You can carry the e-reader with you wherever you go, and no one will see a book cover that proclaims you’re reading Fifty Shades of Grey!

In summary, e-books are portable, affordable, searchable, readable. Borrow a friend’s e-reader and see what all the fuss is about. Save your hardbacks and paperbacks for the beach.