A little over a year ago, I truly believed I was never going to love the e-book format. Because the actual book is the real deal, fresh pages, the weight of it, the fact that you can use random objects as bookmarks – I was a committed book person – until I read an e-book. Now I’m 70/30 when it comes to books vs e-books, I’m still rooting for paperbacks but I also have a soft spot for the forest friendly format.
Imagine going on a trip that has you spending a lot of time at airports or on the plane (I’m going on one in April, actually) – now imagine choosing THAT one book that will accompany you on your trip. Tricky, I would say… but with e-books, you can take as many books as you want! And you can read as many as you can, put aside the one you might not enjoy at the airport, and pick it up during your return flight – perfection.
Sometimes my hands get so tired from holding that 800+ paged book that I curse the book for being so heavy. E-books are light, actually, e-books weigh nothing and it’s the technology thingy that weighs something but usually not a lot. It’s a blessing sometimes, it’s definitely a plus for travel as well but mostly for those days when my wrists are just too flimsy to hold the real book.
Though the bookstores in Estonia are quite good at bringing in the mainstream books, sometimes I can’t get my hands on certain books that are already out. So e-books can be much more accessible at times, and I don’t even have to get out of your home to purchase a book that I desperately want. So easy, and so simple for a lazy person or for those days when you can’t even force yourself out of bed.
E-books are a bit cheaper, since you don’t technically own the physical copy of the book, but not that much. I think they are a bit overpriced for what they are, but e-books are amazing because they are forest friendly! No tree was cut down for an e-book, and it is a more sustainable choice for any book lover. So when an e-book saves a tree once in a while, I’m happy.
Since I’m not thrilled about individual e-book purchases, you could say I wholeheartedly support all the e-book subscription providers out there. Some let you keep the books, some don’t, but most ask a very understandable monthly fee and allow you to read as many books as you want. Fabula, for instance, is a e-book subscription for Estonia, Latvia and Finland, that is focused especially on literature from those countries but has books in English, German and Russian as well. It’s like visiting a virtual library where you can pick up any book, and sometimes, you don’t even have to return it!
PS: Fabula is a rather new addition to the whole virtual library game but with time, it will have even more e-books and, who knows, maybe even audio books!?
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What do you think of e-books? And have you tried any e-book subscriptions?
METTEL RAY 
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