We made an exciting announcement at the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference in Toronto, Ontario yesterday! Canadian libraries, schools, and colleges will soon have access to thousands of eBooks from Random House of Canada and McClelland & Stewart through OverDrive. Libraries will be able to offer their customers digital books from award-winning authors including Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Judy Fong Bates, and Vincent Lam, as well as international best-selling authors such as P.D. James and Salman Rushdie. To see if your public library is a member of the OverDrive network, visit http://search.overdrive.com.
New e-reader? No e-books yet? No Problem. Get Inspired by Top Picks from Some of Your Favorite Authors and Load Your Device with Great Reads.
If you are the proud owner of a shiny, new e-reading device and you are wondering where to start, take some tips from bestselling authors Dan Brown, Julia Glass, Carl Hiaasen, Nora Ephron, and Chuck Palahniuk. We asked these authors about their favorite books of 2010 and the books that top their must-read list for the New Year.
These are exciting times in the world of eBooks! It’s hard to find a top 10 gift list that doesn’t include an eReader, so there’s no doubt that the iPad, Kobo, Kindle and Sony Reader will be hot gifts this holiday season. In celebration of this digital explosion, we’ve launched www.eReads.ca, a brand new website to help you find the bestselling books you will want to read.
I belong to a wonderful book club made up of twelve smart and savvy people who love to read. We all adore books, and we’re very social, but we’re also just a little bit geeky (and I mean that in the nicest possible way). I knew we all had embraced the digital world, but I was still rather amazed when it dawned on me that between us we were reading on every major device available in Canada. We have an iPad, a Sony Reader, a Kindle, a Kobo and a few iPhones and Blackberrys.
So I asked everyone to bring their favourite e-reader to our last meeting for a little show and tell. I also asked folks to champion their preferred device. Here’s what they had to say:
Sandra received a Kobo for Mother’s Day…
I like the Kobo e-reader because of its price point. At $149, it’s a much easier decision to make to take the plunge to an e-reader. It isn’t too “precious” - I’d be worried about running around with an iPad or something more expensive or fragile. And the e-book purchases are through Indigo, a Canadian company. The stylish aqua leather case isn’t too bad either! -Sandra
Lisa is the proud new owner of an iPad…
I had never considered an e-reader until my husband purchased an iPad. I really did not expect to like it as much as I do. It’s small enough to hold and read in bed, more compact than my laptop and the colour and images are gorgeous. I think I prefer to read printed books but I plan to load up some ebooks to our iPad for an upcoming family vacation. If there’s enough memory and a camera in the next generation iPad, it will probably become my computer. The keyboard is not great so I would need an auxiliary keyboard and obviously still need a phone (I love my Blackberry for email and phone). So the iPad and Blackberry are the perfect combination for me. I can see the appeal of dedicated e-readers, but given the prices I can’t see myself buying one. -Lisa
Elle is the proud owner of a Kindle…
I got my Kindle six months ago, for Christmas, and I can say honestly it has been the best Christmas present ever. When I travel, my husband has always joked about needing an extra suitcase to pack my books. Now I can just load up the Kindle and I only need to take one. While I know the device isn’t perfect (no ability to lock documents, not a terribly efficient “filing” system and a completely inexplicable “page numbering” system) many of these problems are the result of being a first generation product. The Kindle does do other things very well: you can bookmark documents, “highlight” passages and take notes - all valuable features when you spend time reviewing books. Also, as a person who is notorious for flipping to the end to find out how a book ends (yes, I cheat) it forces you to read in the moment. Lastly, I love that the screen is NOT backlit - it really does replicate the book-reading experience remarkably well. The Kindle will never replace physical books. I love the shape and feel and smell of real books, and there is something to be said for the ability to flip back easily to a prior page to remind yourself of something you read previously, but for those books you may never read again, or for space saving, you can’t lose with the Kindle.
I have a Sony Reader. While I’m lusting after the iPad, it won’t replace my Sony Reader for books. No backlighting and no wireless are features, not drawbacks for me. I like to read for hours at a time, and e-ink is easy on the eyes. Plus, I have a little case of ADD, and not being able to check Twitter for a few hours is a good thing for me.
Though most of us are e-reading at least some of the time, we still have a couple if devotees of the printed book. Alice is a Librarian and she’s not buying a smart phone or an e-reader anytime soon…
I read blogs and news online, but when it comes to novels, I want to curl up with a book. Partly because they are easier on the eyes, partly simply the tactile pleasure and book design, a “device” is just not the same as a book. I am, frankly, not even tempted. (Plus, spilling tea on a book is not nearly as disastrous!) -Alice
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