#oneaday Day 1126: Booking it

Here's a pointless thing I am presently agonising over more than a reasonable person probably would.

I own a Kindle. It's an old Kindle, but it still works, and I haven't used it nearly enough since my wife was kind enough to buy it for me probably half a decade ago. It provides a pleasant enough reading experience, and I actually suspect I'd prefer the page-turning buttons it has over the touchscreens of more recent models. I've also tried it under the amber light I mentioned the other evening, and it is indeed perfectly readable.

Related to this piece of information, I have been very much enjoying Japanese light novels recently — specifically, the Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki series, and I've just started My Friend's Little Sister Has It In For Me!, too, which also seems to be a lot of fun.

Now, my quandary: since I've already started collecting light novels (I have all the volumes of Tomozaki that are currently available, and I'd like to get all of My Friend's Little Sister etc etc) should I continue with that and potentially end up overflowing with books — or should I do what is probably the sensible thing and read more on the Kindle? And as an extension to that question, should I stick with my existing Kindle, or pick up a newer, more up-to-date model with a better screen, more features and better suitability for reading more visual formats like manga?

This seems like it should be an easy answer, doesn't it? My main hesitation concerns the fact that I simply like having books around. I like the feel of a book in my hand, I like the way a nice collection looks on the shelf, and in the case of light novels I like the colour illustrations in the opening pages, the cover art and the nice "glossy" feel their covers tend to have. The Kindle is at least capable of displaying the black-and-white illustrations that crop up throughout your average light novel, so that's something.

On top of that, the Kindle's Library screen is boring as balls, consisting of nothing but a text listing of what you have on the device. Practical, yes. A fun showcase of the books you've been collecting, no.

I think my hesitation primarily stems from the fact I consider the act of collecting these books part of the whole enjoyment process. I like adding new volumes to the shelf, though I'm also conscious we don't have a ton of shelf space left in this house.

So I wonder. Should I start reading more light novels on the Kindle? They're generally cheaper, and in some cases they release earlier digitally — I believe all of My Friend's Little Sister etc etc is already available as ebooks, but the actual physical releases are staggered across the coming months up until September.

But… ooh. I like having a book in my hand. Maybe my optimal choice is to read a bunch on Kindle, then pick up physical copies of the ones I really enjoyed and actually want to collect. It means effectively buying them twice, but… oh, I don't know.

This is your brain on anxiety, depression and Asperger's, friends. What fun!