Walking into Barnes and Noble, seeing all of the new and old books on the shelves, greeting the workers that I already know- is one of the best feelings for me. I love the feeling of a paperback book: the sound each page makes when you turn it, the feeling of the paper, the weight of the book. The complete reading experience.
Frankly, I’m pissed off. Books are much more expensive now than they used to be, which I understand is from inflation, however, it still sucks. Some of my favorite memories are from the holidays- my dad would give me about $60 to spend on up to 7 or 8 books, and I would race throughout the isles of B&N. Now, $60 gets me maybe 4 to 5 books. I got sick of it. I started going to libraries and borrowing books, which was great; I still do it. But, I wasn’t always able to go to the library, or I was afraid I would miss the due date.
Then, one day, I got an email: “2 Months Free Kindle Unlimited”. It’s like the heavens had sung to me. I was already aware that Kindle Unlimited had almost all of the books I had been wanting to read, especially ones by smaller authors. Would I have to use my iPad and give up reading only paperbacks for the first time? Yes. But, would I be saving a butt-load of money? Yes.
This past summer I still bought books. However, I also used Kindle Unlimited. I read over 30 books this summer but only bought about 5. Of course, at some point, the free trial had ended and I had to make a decision: keep the subscription, or end it. I’ve decided to keep it. While I do have access to my campus’s library, it’s also nice to just open up the Kindle App on my iPad and find books there. Another plus, many smaller authors will put their books on Kindle Unlimited, which is why I got it in the first place.
Happy Reading!