I have a smile on my face. Why? Because I have not blogged about books in a very long time. In this post, I will explain why I have two fairly new e-readers and the purpose of each. To be honest I explored a whole lot before picking these two. I’ve been sluggish with reading, and have been listening to audiobooks for a year or so during this boring pandemic… but made the switch to reading more via e-readers since using a phone made my eyes swirl.

Kindle Paperwhite 11th Generation is the newest Kindle e-reader at a semi-affordable price of £139. It has a screen size of 6.8 inches, no buttons on the sides, 8GB storage and is slightly heavy. I bought this back in October 2021, and so far I have enjoyed reading from it. The first book I read on it was Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I actually have the paperback, which I bought it in July when I was waiting for Mrs Hen at London Bridge Station, but somehow I felt I couldn’t finish the book… Once I had the Kindle, I felt I could read a lot more faster, and finished the book in a few weeks.

After my first book after a long time of not actually reading fiction, I quit my Audible subscription, and went for Kindle Unlimited which was on a promo last year… Well I’m glad I did, because there’s a lot of books I can borrow! And even manga too!!

Manga quality is not too bad, some words are hard to ready because of the lightness of the font. However, you can zoom into the panel to get a better look of the writing.

You can change the way the page looks… have just recently added the time on top of the pages… I always lose track of time when reading.

If you don’t like people knowing which book you’re reading, you can switch to the Kindle screen covers when it goes on sleep mode… I chose this option, as I didn’t want people to know what I was reading.

However, there is only so much that I can borrow via Kindle Unlimited (and also find free e-books elsewhere)… certain books I wanted to read on the Kindle aren’t available on Kindle Unlimited but are available on Overdrive, which is an app that’s usable on the Kobo e-readers!

So, after a few months of contemplation, I bought my second e-reader (my third or was it my fourth really – I have a really old e-reader somewhere). This is the Kobo Libra 2, which costs £159.99.

Why did I buy it? It has 32GB of storage, there’s button on the sides, it has a 7 inch screen, I can borrow library books (that’s why I joined Lewisham Libraries, as Southwark Libraries don’t use Overdrive), and I can read a lot of manga! A lot of reviewers out there have said to get the Kobo Forma for reading manga, but to be honest, Kobo Libra 2 is also good. I don’t need an oversized 8 inch e-reader, I needed one that was weight-friendly for my small hands.

The quality of the manga is pretty good, and the pages look very paper-like compared to the screen on the Kindle Paperwhite.

With the Kobo, I like the fact that I can choose what goes on the header and footer. I chose how much time to read (supposed to be per chapter… but depending on the book, it will give me the half-way time for the entire book). And the footer, I chose how many pages I read / left in the book to read. Handy!!

Like the Kindle Paperwhite, you can choose to remove the book cover, but Kobo doesn’t show any default images.

Well, if you’re in two minds like me – get both (only if you can afford it … I’m still paying for the Kobo using Amazon Prime’s 5 x 1 monthly installments). If you can’t buy both, then the best thing to do is ask yourself, which one is more appropriate…

Overall: I would say go for the Kobo Libra 2 – you can borrow library books, and if you can find free epub books on the Internet, then you don’t need to change the file extension for Kindle.

Books I’ve read on the Kindle so far:

• Swing Time by Zadie Smith (puzzled with this book, but enjoyed reading a complex book after many years)
• The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (fairly sweet book)
• The Expatriates by Janice YK Lee (I was really disappointed with the ending for this book… I wish there was an alternative ending for one of the mothers)
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee – currently in my reading section… the Agatha Raisin series took over!
• Sweetness and Lightening Manga – Volume 1 (watched the animé, thought I might as well read the manga! And the first 8 volumes are free on Kindle Unlimited)

Books I’ve read on the Kobo so far:

• Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by MC Beaton (read in 5 days!)
• Agatha Raisin and the Viscious Vet
• Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardner
• Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (currently on chapter 2 … the Agatha Raisin series is quite addictive!)
• Absolute Boyfriend Manga – Volume 1 … Reading this because it’s a short series of 6 volumes

If you’ve been stuck in a rut with reading or haven’t read in a long time, give an e-reader a go… I have a long list of books I want to read at the moment, and have downloaded a lot of manga for this manga-deprived geek! It’s paper-free friendly, and takes up less space in your home and in your bag!

I’m a geek who needs to be a geek.