I’ve always been a big reader. Until I got a job as a sophomore in high school, my favorite piece of plastic in my wallet was a library card; much to my father’s chagrin, today my favorite card is stamped with VISA. Fast forward five years and I still love reading; however finding books in the Diamond Library that I enjoy is hard. As students, we’re required to read plenty of books: long, boring on history, business, psychology, science and the list goes on and on. By the end of the day the last thing you feel like doing is picking up another book. Luckily, thanks to new e-readers like Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and the Apple iPad, reading books we love are no longer a thing of the past.
My boyfriend Ryan knows my passion for reading. I’m constantly borrowing books from his mom’s book club and asking his opinion on this author and that title. So as an early Valentine’s Day present, he surprised me with an Amazon Kindle. It’s everything I wanted and more. I simply set up an account, registered my Kindle (which I affectionately call Kindy) and started browsing the Amazon.com Kindle store. Initially accessing thousands and thousands of books was overwhelming, but Kindle’s thorough tutorials had me poised over my Kindy, faithful VISA in hand, ready to purchase my first e-book.
Luckily for faithful VISA, the best part of the Amazon Kindle is the discount prices on thousands of books. I purchased “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett for $12.95, completely dodging the hardcover’s $25 dollar price tag. I next looked at “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”, which was only $5 Kindle price. (I didn’t buy GWTDT yet, but I would recommend The Help to everyone I know!) As soon as you hit “Buy” the book automatically downloads to your Kindle wirelessly, you just have to be connected to Wi-Fi to complete the download and purchase.
For some reason, I always craved the Kindle and never thought of its competition, the Barnes &Noble Nook and Nook Color. Price wise, the Nook and Kindle are basically the same: $149 for the Nook and $139 for the Kindle. The Nook Color is a little out of that league starting at $249. Both brands are similar with the e-ink screen: an ingenious invention that makes your screen look like an actual book page. This e-ink and non-back lit screen ensures that you can lie out by in front of the sorority house (with sunscreen on of course!) and still be able to read your favorite new book or blog whereas the Apple iPad is backlit and usually has a glare.
One of the other pros of the Barnes & Noble Nook is the ability to rent books for up to two weeks, whereas with the Kindle, you can read a sample but must purchase the book to be able to read the whole thing. You must be in a Barnes & Noble in order to rent books, but that can save you some serious money and save your Nook some serious memory space. Another difference is the Kindle has a keyboard below it’s screen, whereas the Nook and Nook Color both have an easy to use touch screen.
I read multiple reviews online, and one common Nook complaint was that you cannot download books if you are outside the United States, while with the Kindle you only need Wi-Fi to download the newest Pretty Little Liars book. (PLL series is my other new obsession). Another Kindle pro? The Kindle’s battery life lasts around seven days while the Nook’s averages around five, with the Nook Color’s battery life being a little bit shorter than that, thanks to it’s color LCD screen. But, I suppose you can’t have it all. (Unless you’re Blair Waldorf.)
Although I am a little biased towards my beloved Amazon Kindle, I want to encourage you girls to look into buying an e-reader. The Diamond Library’s reading selection cannot satisfy us any longer, so it’s high time you invest in something that keeps you coming back for more. Plus, both the Kindle and the Nook have tons of accessories, like covers, clip on lights and sticker skins. And let’s be honest, our favorite piece of plastic is still a VISA and our favorite thing to shop for is still accessories. Happy reading!