I can't stress how much I have resisted buying an e-reader ever since they came onto the market for the first time.
I'll always love a real book more than an electronic one and the reasons go way beyond the fact that a physical book smells glorious when it's new and feels wonderful in the hands, but I had to do something about the overweight luggage I am carting around the world.
When Norman and I started planning our trip, we made a list of all the usual essentials to take with us: toiletries, warm clothes for the winter, enough socks and underwear, cameras, laptops, notebooks and pens for writing and of course books. We were asked constantly by friends and relatives, "So are you going to buy a Kindle?" and we scoffed "no" cockily in return. Boy were we silly to think that we could schlep a load of books around for nine months. At first, I was giving the books the space my clothes rightfully deserved. I sacrificed extra pairs of jeans and jumpers for my 'travelling' copy of Edgar Allan Poe's complete works. I lifted out of the suitcase, thicker pyjamas in order to keep my copy of Rise Sister Rise by Rebecca Campbell. And when we heaved those suitcases out of Baggage Claim pushed them down streets unknown (yes, pushed) we knew we would have to give in. Our principles would have to bend.
And so, with a Kindle Papwewhite each, we're lightening the load and shipping our now finished paperbacks back to the UK from Prague. I'll be sad to see Poe go as he was meant to be inspiration for me while on the road but I can download any book I want in a matter of minutes at anytime I'm in the mood for it, as long as there is wifi!
My current Kindle read: Swing Time by Zadie Smith