Toaster Tuesday (003)
Baaaaarely squeaking in on Tuesday here, but I made it! You can’t say I didn’t, haha! Okay, so this here is Toaster Tuesday if you’re new to the blog…
Toaster Tuesday is a series of posts about e-readers, specifically my experiences as a new Nook owner. The concept was partially inspired by a show called Battlestar Galactica. Basically the antagonists in the story are the Cylons, who are robots. The humans like to call them Toasters. I figured since there is a dichotomy between organic and electronic in the book world as well, I’d play with the idea and (affectionately) refer to my Nook as a Toaster. (Her real name is Ariadne, though, thank you very much.)
That’s me hanging with Edgar Allan Poe in Barnes & Noble. Ariadne’s mother ship!
Okay, last week I let Mr. Brick and Miss Mortar win the argument. But this week I’m going to talk about a reason why my Nook and other e-readers are made of win.
So, you’re (or, more likely I am) sitting waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or you’re out hanging at your favorite library, or maybe just chowing down at In-n-Out or wherever. (Mm… In-n-Out…) And you have your Nook with you. Well, what if you’re not in the mood to read the historical suspense thriller you were reading last night? Or what if you really want to check out that other book you bought on a whim because it was only 99 hot cents? (Okay, we’re really just talking about me now, aren’t we?)
No problemo! It’s right there on your Nook, waiting to be read! All of the ebooks you’ve purchased and downloaded to your device are available for your perusal as long as your battery’s charged. If you’ve already downloaded it, no wi-fi connection necessary!
Or maybe you’re writer like I am. Ever wanted to be able to carry your works-in-progress with you without having to deal with shuffling pages, the threat of paper cuts, or somehow losing that goldmine of ideas? Well, just convert your files to the correct format and you can read your own work on the device just as if it were any other ebook. You can even still highlight passages and make bookmarks and leave comments attached to the file on the device!
Total truth: I do have my own work stored on my ereader. For just one of my personal files, that’s over 200 pages of my writing in a nice, compact package in case I need a refresher on what I wrote previously. Heck, I even have my friend’s work stored on my ereader because my life has been so hectic these days, I want to be able to pull it up when I find a few seconds to spare.
It’s really easy to arrange, too. The Nook does read PDF files, but I find using the cool program called calibre helps with formatting a Nook-compatible epub file so that the text doesn’t get all wonky when I try to change font sizes. I even chose my own cover images for my works, because I am dorky like that. 
So that’s another reason I fell and fell hard for the Nook. It’s just so.. convenient. It will never take the place of a physical book in my hands, but it’s pretty darn handy, gotta say.
