It’s been maybe twenty years since I last had one — before the kids went to school, I think. And I don’t know that we used it much, because we already had plenty of books at home. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. Eventually, I realised I hadn’t used it for a couple of years, didn’t know where the physical card was, and didn’t think about it again for a couple of decades.
But I was down at Pacific Fair on the weekend and accidentally bought a new Kobo because it looked like it would fit in my pocket. (Spoiler: it does.) My logic was that if I spent $250 on the Kobo, I’d be less tempted to spend $500 or $600 on the Boox Palma 2 e-ink reader.
Yes, I know — I already have about half a dozen Kindles, plus my phone, my iPad, and two actual libraries. Pretty sure I’ve got a couple of old Kobos around somewhere too. But they’re old. And my thinking was that if I had a pure reading device — something phone-sized, rather than inconveniently biggish like a Kindle — maybe I could carry it around with me. Maybe I could even leave my phone at home, since my Apple Watch does pretty much everything I need anyway. And that would be good, because spending less time on your phone is good.
Anyway, long story short, I saw the Kobo — and although it’s a Japanese company now, it started out Canadian, so I thought it would be nice to support them. Talking to the JB Hi-Fi guy, I found out you can borrow library books on the Kobo. So I thought: why the hell am I paying $15 a month for Kindle Unlimited — an account I rarely, if ever, use — when I could just borrow the occasional book (and, let’s be honest, probably not read it) on this Kobo instead?
So I placed it within my possession. The library is just down the hill from where I live. I might even wander down there this afternoon since I’ve got half an hour to kill.
I honestly don’t know whether anything will come of this plan, but it’s nice to think that maybe it will.