I was indeed expecting the iPad to show up in the first answers :P
While I trust the iPad to do exactly what I need, there's a couple of things to consider
* The price/usage ratio: it's really really expensive - which is justified seeing all that it can do - but buying a several-hundreds-dollars uber-multimedia device
just to read books on it would be overdoing it. And I know she would only be reading on it cause she's played around with other people's iPads before and, well, wasn't too enthused :P
* The possibility of mugging: my mom takes the bus around town sometimes late at night. An aging lady, alone at night, walking around with an iPad... I don't feel too good about it.
Although I suppose any kind of LCD-screen device would be a potential target, I'm assuming that the recognizable iPad is more desirable than others.
I've been doing a quick Googling and from mentions in other threads, it seems that an
Aluratek reader would get pretty close to the mark.
Anyone's got feedback on that? (or other alternatives)