As I sit here in my living room with my sleeping, now tonsilless four year old, I figured I’d share my changed mind on …ebooks.

My feelings on ebooks have been ambivalent from the get. I’d wanted to download a book badly while I was in Iraq, only to be denied by both Amazon and Barnes and Noble and every other site that had it that wasn’t a pirate site. I read The Stand on my iPod but it was really different, not something i was sure I enjoyed. I lusted after a Kindle but never made the plunge, mostly because I couldn’t see buying something that a single function device and a device where I didn’t actually own the book I’d just “bought”. I mostly still read print books while deployed and since I’ve returned.

Then my hubby bought me an iPad for Christmas. And it was so much better for reading books on than my phone. Sort of. But since buying it, I’ve read at least a dozen ebooks. And here’s the thing: for those books that made it to my keeper shelf, I went out and bought a physical copy, too. I’m not sure how many other people do the same thing but for me, books that are truly awesome, I’ve ended up buying them twice. Is it fair for me to have to do that? Probably not but this post is not the place to dig into the piracy discussion.

Now this isn’t to say that I enjoy reading ebooks more than physical books. The Kindle I just bought my husband for his upcoming deployment is significantly easier on the eyes. I not only wake up if I’m reading on my iPad, but I can feel my eyes getting tired. So for instance, when I read the Hunger Games trilogy straight through, I had a raging headache for days afterwards. I’ve never had that happen while reading actual books. But had I not had my iPad, I would have had to wait for a trip to the bookstore to continue a great series. I’ve definitely increased my reading since getting my iPad, which is good for authors, I suppose, since buying more has to equal good thing for their bottom line, right, especially if I’m not the only one doing it?

So there are things i truly enjoy about the iPad and ebooks but at the end of the day, I’m still a girl anchored in the physical world and I would hate to accidentally delete a file and lose a new favorite. Plus, in the event of an apocalypse, ebooks are gone into the ether. Convenient, yes. Permanent? Yes. So long as there remains adequate electricity, lol! All that said, I don’t see me giving up my newest habit just yet. Because if there is one thing I’ve missed since redeployment its having time to read and if carrying around my iPad means I get to keep up with market trends and great stories to boot, then I’m all for it.

Turns out, I’m an ebook convert after all.