Going to the DARK SIDE - Yep, I am there

For those of you who have been reading my blog over the years, you know that I have been HIGHLY critical of ebooks and ereaders and vowed that I would never get one.  In fact, I call it 'going to the dark side'.

Well, apparently, I am now on the dark side as I was offered a Kindle as a Christmas gift and jumped on the offer.  So, what happened?  Actually, a few things managed to make me change my mind - and, while I believe these are valid reasons, I have to say that I am still extremely conflicted about ebooks -  I LOVE, LOVE touching and reading 'real books'.  For me, ebooks are simply electrical discharges - so, nothing will EVER make me swear off 'real books' but rather, I think I will balance between 'real books' and 'ebooks' as necessary.

REASONS TO GET AN EREADER:

1)  Although in many cases, I feel as though ebooks are wayyyyy tooo expensive, I have noticed that when it comes to chick lit (my favorite genre and one that I am having an extremely difficult time finding these days) I can have a huge selection of ebooks for $2.99 each.  This is amazing - considering the book version can be as expensive as $20.00.  In some cases, these chick lit titles were only released as ebooks - I will now have a huge selection to choose from.

2)  I am not a book stacker.  That is, I usually have about 2 or 3 books in reserve - waiting to be read, but that's it.  Most of my blogger friends have hundreds and hundreds waiting for them - this is NEVER the case for me.  Which means that if I don't time it properly or, if for some reason, there is a particular month (or months) where there are no good releases (in my opinion), I end up without anything to read.  This means having to order through Abe or Book Depository or Amazon - which takes time.  With my Kindle, I can simply download any book, at any time - which means I will never have to wait again (I am soooo bad with delayed gratification).  The reality is that our Indigo and/or Chapters bookstore is extremely limited in stock and I usually end up leaving there without having bought a book!!!

3)  I am tired of dragging around 2 or 3 books with me 'just in case'.  The Kindle I am getting is tiny and fits in my purse!!!

4)  I will be able to have a Pink covered Kindle - so cool (yeah, shallow I know).

5)  I was given a Kindle as a Christmas present.

REASONS NOT TO BUY AN EREADER:

1)  Ebooks are not real books;
2)  I love, love the smell and feel of a book - ANY BOOK!
3)  I am petrified that technology is going to destroy centuries of book love (starting from the earliest printing presses.....)
4)  Just because....

Well, there you have it.