Books!!!

I've been stocking up on reading material, both with e-books and "real" books (you know, on actual paper). Now that I'm not in school, I have time to read and I am enjoying that very much!

Current reads:

Still working on Anna Karenina, which is a good read but slow going for me. It's not that I don't find it interesting, it's that I get confused on who's who when everyone seems to have three or more names! That one is an e-book, so I tend to read that when I'm out somewhere without another book.

Friendfluence by Carlin Flora is a hard read, but very interesting. It reads like a dumbed-down psychology textbook, but it's really interesting. I have read through the overview chapter, early childhood, late childhood, and I'm finishing up the teen section about friendships and their influence on us.
I have found that my cross-gender friendships from high school are apparently unusual, though very beneficial to my development and thought processes. Thanks guys!

On the list for later:
The Universe in a Single Atom by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (that's what it says on the cover) Subtitled The Convergence of Science and Spirituality

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin, subtitled The Science of a Human Obsession

The Tell-Tale Brain by V. S. Ramachandran... Sorry, no subtitle yet because I can't remember and it's not here yet (ordered from Amazon) 

Then comes the fiction, because I like to get lost in other people's worlds too...
Burning Lamp by Amanda Quick
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
The Apostle by Brad Thor
The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris

I'm also awaiting the release of the new Dan Brown novel, whose title escapes me at the moment, and I have several dozen titles in my e-readers, many of which are classics (because I can find those for free)

As to e-readers, I use my phone for that and have the following e-readers: iBooks, Nook, Amazon, and Kobo. I've been using Kobo the most lately, but I really don't find much difference between the readers other than how they present your library. I like Kobo because I can easily see how much of the book I've completed. It also tells me how long I've been reading, how many pages I've read, and rewards me with little badges when I do certain things.

I like my e-books because they're always with me, but I love having a real book in my hands. I don't think I will ever completely change to e-books, but I wouldn't give them up at this point either. The convenience is incomparable, but so is the feel of an actual, physical book on my hands. I'm a fairly tactile person (thus a portion of my knitting love), and an electronic device just doesn't have the same feel as the heavy coverstock of a paperback or the thick cardboard cover of a hardcover book. We won't even get into tapping to turn a page!

I also like that I can get real books used, which makes them nice and cheap... Sadly, that option is not available for e-books. I can borrow books from an e-library, and Amazon offers a borrow service to Prime members, but only if you have a Kindle. I wish they would extend that to the Kindle app, since that's what I have. Maybe someday. Currently, Amazon has no idea what to recommend to me, since I keep buying/looking at books all over the map! I always look at photography and Photoshop books, knitting books, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, and lately neuroscience, home repair/improvement and religion. They've got to be throwing their hands up and going "I don't know, just pick anything and recommend it to her!"