So I've been an ebook convert for a month now...

And no, this isn’t sponsored, seriously.

Here’s the story:

Late last year, my bookshelf was overflowing. I thought about getting a custom bookshelf wall, but after checking with a few furniture companies, the quotes made my jaw drop – they ranged from ridiculously cheap to insanely expensive. I couldn’t figure out what a fair price was, so I put the whole thing on hold.

Fast forward to my trip to Japan before the New Year. I was spending a ton of time commuting, bored out of my mind, and that’s when I started thinking about getting an e-reader. I looked at all the options: Kindle, Kobo, Mooink, Onyx, you name it. The biggest dilemma was whether to go with an open system. Sure, it means you’re not stuck buying books from one place, but it also usually means a bulkier device with worse battery life. This was a tough one because I mostly read light novels, and BookWalker doesn’t have its own e-reader.

Kindle was out of the picture pretty quickly. I didn’t want to deal with simplified Chinese translations or wait forever for a Taiwan launch. Since I was in Japan, I went to BicCamera to try out the Kobo Forma. And let me tell you, I was blown away. The one-handed design, while clearly inspired by Kindle, felt amazing. The responsiveness was decent, but the best part was how incredibly light it was. Holding it one-handed was effortless.

Back in Taiwan, I checked out Kobo’s ebook selection. It wasn’t perfect, but it had enough of what I wanted, so I took the plunge and ordered one.

Here are my thoughts after a month of going digital:

The Good:

1. Cheaper books: Kobo has sales all the time. During the New Year, they had a bunch of stuff for 50% off, and then the International Book Fair brought another site-wide 52% off sale. My wallet cried tears of joy (especially since light novels seem to be permanently discounted). I ended up buying 87 books in one month, which is almost as many as I bought in the entire previous year.
2. Reading more: Because I can take my e-reader everywhere, all those little pockets of time I used to spend scrolling on my phone – waiting for the bus, waiting for my ramen, waiting for my coffee – are now dedicated to reading. I finished 25 books this month, which is about 5 times more than I used to read when I was still on physical books.
3. Reading faster: Being able to adjust the font size and line spacing makes a huge difference. I used to take about 2.5 hours to finish a light novel, but now I can get through one in about 1.5 hours.
4. Less clutter: My bookshelf and I are finally at peace.

The Bad:

1. Books are just text now: This is the biggest downside for me. A good book is more than just the words on the page. The cover art, the typography, the feel of the paper – they all contribute to the experience. This is especially true for light novels, where the illustrations are a huge part of the appeal. For series with really nice physical copies (like Overlord or “Embracing the Burning Wheel”), I’ll probably stick to buying physical. The same goes for certain non-fiction books. Beautiful photos of ancient artifacts just don’t look the same on a black-and-white e-ink screen. And don’t even get me started on publishers who just convert their books to clunky PDFs.
2. No more randomly flipping to a page: This one makes me a little sad. I used to keep a few books by my bed and just pick one up and flip to a random page before going to sleep. You can’t really do that with an e-reader.
3. Not all books are available: Some books aren’t on Kobo, some don’t have ebook versions at all, and some only exist as PDFs. In those cases, I have no choice but to buy the physical copy and add to my ever-growing tower of books.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend getting an e-reader if you’re a voracious reader. It’s easier on the eyes and lets you make the most of your downtime.