eReader Vs Old Fashion Book...

Fancy Pants Tech is Great When It Works!

Kobo, iPad, Kindle, iPhone...Which ever device you use to read your "books", we all have our preferences.  I bought a Kobo eReader several years ago...certainly long before the iPad came to market. Since then, I have used different eReaders, and I'm now weighing in to the debate: eReader vs. traditional paper books.

Bought from Chapters, my Kobo came with 100 classics preloaded. I immediately felt that I had access to so many good reads no matter where I was. I also purchased and loaded a few more current books and downloaded a couple of novels that were offered for free. It was great to be able to carry 120 books around in my purse! No doubt, I enjoyed the portability of the Kobo from the start.

Yes, the Beaches are This Beautiful

Then I went on vacation with my husband to St Lucia. I thought that I had found the perfect combination of travelling companions: Claudio who likes to sleep undisturbed in the sun and the Kobo who will keep me from disturbing him! St Lucia is a fabulous place boasting an endless assortment of beaches and coves that are perfect for an afternoon of reading in the sun or shade. It was perfect having the Kobo in my beach bag. We were planning on lounging on the beaches and I was set for a ton of reading.

I began by finishing of Elegance of the Hedgehog, and was just getting into Still Alice, when the unthinkable happened. Yup.  You know what I'm going to tell you. Smash. Safely tucked away in my beach bag, my trusty Kobo didn't stand a chance against the unmoving volcanic rock that I dropped it on. I don't know what I was thinking when I plonked my bag next to my chair (actually, I was probably thinking about what drink I was going to order from the bar, or maybe I was thinking about whether to reapply some sun screen).  Anyway--truth be told--I wasn't thinking anything important, when I dropped my Kobo on the ground and smashed its screen.

Boom...There it was...End of my vacation reading. Just like that. Next item on the agenda?

How about a bunch of waiting for my husband to wake up and "....do something with me?" Yah right. The only person who felt more disturbed by this technical difficulty was Claudio. "What do you mean you have nothing to read? What do you mean you want me to keep you company now?" When the penny dropped, it was a bit like the end of the Fantasy Island vacation! In desperation, I ended up buying a shlocky paperback from a hotel lobby that basically annoyed me from start to page 132. I couldn't take any more, and went cold turkey for the balance of the vacation.

My Vote Goes to the Old Fashioned Book!

So here's my verdict. I enjoy eReaders for the portability that they offer, but when the chips are down, there are very few technical glitches that will get between me and my favourite paperback while on vacation. When push comes to shove, I will always travel with a couple of traditional books over the Kobo. I just don't ever want to be left on vacation without a good book!