[sunlioness]

OK, I know that for a title, it sounds a bit overly dramatic. But it is absolutely true for me, my Sony Reader has changed my life in so many ways.

Just to give you a bit of background on my perception, I can tell you that until a year ago I was a gadget maniac. I was not buying electronics just to have them, I was seriously utilizing them and I always felt I needed them. My PC, my laptop, my netbook, my Android, my camera and camcorder... I always saw them as absolutely necessary tools.

One year ago the economic crisis in Greece broke out and although I was already in the UK, it affected me deeply and profoundly. It made me ask a lot of questions for the first time. I started seeing the problem not only in Greece, but globally and most importantly in myself as well. So from then on I stopped buying things. I would always ask myself "Do I really need this?" and if the answer was no, I wouldn't buy it. If the answer was yes, I would buy it second hand or refurbished as I had given up my old obsession with "new" things.

Anyway, to cut to the point, when I first saw eReaders around me in the train to work, I though "This is really cool, it's going to save a lot of trees BUT I don't really need this" and so I decided not to buy one. But then I won one in the Xmas poker tournament at the office.

Here's the deal: I would now give away every single one of my possessions as long as I could keep my reader (and a device to access the internet and Spotify - but those come second). And that's what I am actually doing, I'm giving away my paper books to my friends and family who want them (except from my graphic novels - the experience of reading them is completely different on eReaders as there's no e-ink in colour, yet!).

So the most important changes my reader has brought in my life are these:

1) My reading experience can be compared now to being in heaven due to the dictionary. As you can obviously notice, English is not my mother tongue. There are so many writers I wanted to read in their original English (or had no choice but to read them in English) but in the process, there was always something missing: either flow, due to my constant stopping to check the numerous words I wouldn't get, or understanding, as I would most times satisfy myself with an approximate understanding (more like guessing) of unknown words. Now, I enjoy the flow so much I just cannot stop myself. I get so glued to the books, I don't have time left for using the computer.

2) I am not obsessively compulsive but I want my books to be clean. I usually borrow books from friends and libraries and I only buy those books I want to share with my loved ones. I always felt that if I was to give them a book with highlighted bits a) I would impose on them to pay attention to what I liked or found interesting and b) they would have access to something deeply intimate of mine, almost like a door to my psyche. Hence I always kept my paper books totally clean but always had to suffer the consequences of losing and forgetting really beautiful and important bits. The notes feature in my reader has triumphantly solved that as well.

c) In terms of fiction, I LOVE classic writers. For me rarely something that has stood the test of time can be compared to something new. Before I bought my reader, the ratio of classic to modern writers that I read was 5/1, in certain periods of my life even 10/1. So the reader has given me now so many choices for FREE that it's going to have a tremendous impact on my budget.


Anyway, I know that eReaders have brought so many new things into the reading experience of all of their users as there's also portability (mine goes EVERYWHERE with me in my pocket), speed of reading (I almost read twice as many books weekly) but I would really like to read your personal stories and how the your reader has changed your life.

Peace and good vibes to all of you beautiful people,
Alexandra