Friday, February 6, 2009

I Need a Sugar Daddy...

I am addicted... addicted I say, and I fully admit it... to the printed word.

If I don't have a book in my hands, car, or within reach, you'd better check my forehead, cause I'm sick.

Reading is, of course, an expensive hobby. I've often commented that it's a good thing I don't live closer to a real bookstore.

Recently, I've been considering shifting over to e-books, rather than paper books, except for my very favorites, because I've been hearing that e-books are getting cheaper all the time.

Of course, no one likes to drag a seventeen inch laptop around with them all the time.... or at least, I don't. I want something that's handy enough for me to have with me most of the time, which means an e-book reader.

I hadn't really looked into the pricing or availability until today.

I'm reading good things about the e-ink technology, and it does re-assure me somewhat that the power is only used to turn the page, but jebus crisp, three hundred dollars??

That's six bookstore trips at my usual limit of fifty dollars spending per trip. And then buying the e-books on top of that... and the e-book prices don't seem to be too much cheaper than paper!

My limited storage space would thank me for the purchase, no doubt, and I could continue collecting paper editions of my favorite titles, because in my mind nothing will ever replace the sensation of paper in your hands.

The smell of binding glue, the texture of the paper, the weight of a book, all of those are part of the reading experience. For money's sake though, I'd be willing to switch to an electronic version.

I just don't have the spare dosh lying around for such a thing.

I'm beginning to think that I need a Sugar Daddy for my habit anyway... I read most books in a day. Thankfully, I can go back and re-read books, especially the best ones, but I still crave the new stories... The downside to being one of those people who can read a book over and over again, of course, is that once I have a book, I'm reluctant to let go of it. The boxes and boxes of books in storage attest to that quite nicely.

Even Ebay doesn't seem to have any reasonably priced decent e-book readers....

Shame. Now that I've looked my technogeek side wants one. My frugal side will just have to beat it down, though. Nothing either side isn't used to by now....