Oh.Christie, finally a twin soul.
I have a few. And use all of them, some for reading, some for actual cooking.
the last ones I bought are
Cooking for Geeks by Jeff Potter, that makes also a fantastic and funny reading.
On Food and Cooking that I have not started to read yet. But my cooking guru is just enthusiastic about it.
I make heavy use of some applications (more than books) with an enormous number of recipes.
The ones I use more frequently are
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
Epicurious the cooking companion
Il Cucchiaio d'Argento (Italian with Italian recipes, a must in Italian families of good tradition, my mother had it, and so does my older daughter, both great cooks).
About screen size and pictures. I use an itouch 4 (I have excellent eyes) that is sturdy and very handy, and I do not have any problems with it.
It is also useful in taking quick pictures of my cooking endeavors.
Hands clean or "dirty" (cook's hands are never dirty
) do not matter as i can wipe clean the thing whenever it is necessary, like I do with my chef's knife.