A New Chapter

My books are going to hate me.  See after running out of space for all of them, I have decided that I should get a Barnes & Noble Nook Color.  Yeah, that's right.  I'm giving in.  Selling out.  Cheating on my paper and ink friends.  I wasn't sure at first and am still not 100% sure (but I rarely am about anything).  Anyway, I looked around my bedroom the other day and thought "Wow, I'd have a lot more space if it weren't for all these books."  Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my books.  Perhaps a little too much.  See once I read a book, I have immense trouble letting it go.  Could be my OCD, I don't know.  I feel a bond with the people and the places and the story.  I hate giving them up.  In the past I have forced myself to part with books I didn't really enjoy and was ok with that.  But there are also books I really did enjoy that once sold to Half-price Books or donated to a charity, I wish I had kept.  I wanted them back.  But in order to reclaim my living space, I had to give them up.  With the Nook Color, I can have 8,000 books in my library and still have space on my shelves.  I will also have mobile internet access in hot spots, tons of apps and even the ability to view pictures and videos.  Its almost like a smaller, much cheaper IPad.  I can get e-books from the library and even share my books with others who have a Nook.  My books are even backed up on the Barnes & Noble server so if something happens to my Nook, I just get a new one and poof! access to all of my old books is like magic.  And no breaking my purse or juggling my belongings trying to lug around a thick hardcover copy of the latest novel.  I'm really having trouble seeing the downside of this choice.  In my quest to decide which e-reader to get, I asked friends and family and was met with a resounding - just use good old-fashioned books.  They have not seem my bedroom.  I understand their fondness for the tactile words but sometimes things change and you've just got to roll with it.  My love of books, bookstores, libraries, bookmarks and anything and everything to do with books is unfailing, but I feel the need to take this huge technological step.  Goodbye my dear tangible literary companions.  Hello night-reader-easy-on-the-eyes-setting while reading in bed without having to struggle holding a book open and rolling from side to side to see the proper page.    Happy Birthday/Mother's Day to me!