While I was ready to  peruse the stacks at Barnes and Noble, my kids had a different idea. Sophia, my oldest made a beeline for the HUGE display of the Nook Ereader from Barnes and Noble. Now, this is a 6 year old who has mastered the art of using an iPad, so I wasn’t too surprised when she sat down (in the kids area of the display) picked a book and started reading. What I didn’t realize it that some of the children’s books give you the option to either read them by themselves or have them read to you. Sophia had a heyday!

Now, I admit, I was not really into the whole e-reader movement. I admit I can be a bit of a snob about books, I like the smell of books and the feel of the actual book in my hands, but therein lies the problem as well. See, I have fibromyalgia and most days it doesn’t bother me too much, but I will admit it is getting harder and harder to hold up a book (especially hardbacks of 500+ pages) and they get heavy.

That being said, I picked up the Nook and played with it a little bit myself. While I admit, it’s no iPad, it’s perfect for me. I can check my email in a WiFi area, surf the Web a bit and read my books. It also has Pandora and a few other cool apps. The other cool thing that I like is the social aspect. You can share quotes and your progress and even recommend a book on your Facebook profile or Twitter straight from your Nook Color. It also has a LendIt feature for some of your books so that you can lend it to a friend on Nook if you want. I thought this was really an awesome way to share books! With more and more of the public library system featuring electronic format books, this is a great way to enjoy them and not worry about late fees (ask my library, I am horrible about them!)!

Now for the warning: While books are half the price as they would be on the shelf, it is so easy to rack up and huge bill for purchasing your books, especially if you are an avid reader like me! So I would highly suggest in buying a Barnes and Noble gift card once or maybe every two months, loading it up and purchasing off of that. There are some great deals in the Steals ‘n’ Deals part of the Nook store. I was able to purchase the entire series of the following: Anne of Green Gables, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austin, and Wizard of Oz all for $0.99 each. so make sure to bargain hunt!

If you have an ereader, tell me what you think about it!