Sorry for the cheesy title. But it was just begging to be said.

My nook arrived last Tuesday (while I was at work! The agony! Except it did arrive half a month early…the ecstasy!). Her name is Calliope, and we’re getting along swimmingly. Since many people have asked why I went with the nook and how I’m liking it, here is a summary of Calliope’s strengths and weaknesses:

The good:

• She’s easy. Not to give her a bad reputation, but she is. The nav bar (that color strip in the above picture) is pretty easy to figure out, so it’s possible to dive right in. The nav bar has buttons for The Daily, My Library, Shop, Reading Now and Settings.
• And, you can use the nook while it charges, which means you don’t have to wait for hours to use it. This is good for those of us who like instant gratification.
• Calliope is stylish. In fact, she reminds me a lot of the iPod/iPhone.
• You can input your nook’s name, and it appears in the upper corner. You can also add your own wallpaper and music (still haven’t tried this). So you can make your nook your own. As you can see, I have a picture of Calliope on my screen.
• The Daily feature is fun. Barnes and Noble downloads daily content for you, which are entertaining little tidbits of literature and literary facts.
• Downloads are quick, and when you search for a book, the free Google books will also appear. I’ve downloaded Daddy Long-Legs and Alice in Wonderland for free. And I bought The Unnamed, a recent release, for $9.99. And okay, I have a ways to go before I recoup the cost, but who doesn’t like free and cheap?
• Reading on the treadmill is so much better with a nook. If you’ve ever wrestled with one of those plastic book holder thingies, you’ll know how happy it makes me that Calliope is flat. Same goes for reading in bed.
• It’s also fun to grab and go. Although I did wait until my cover had arrived before I was brave enough to take Calliope out in public.

However, like any new technology, Calliope has her quirks. The not so good:

• She doesn’t turn off automatically. You actually have to press the power button for about 5 seconds to power down. No biggie, but it did take me awhile to figure this out. I would’ve liked an option where it shuts off automatically if you haven’t used it in a certain length of time. Call me spoiled (or lazy), but this is a pretty standard feature on technology these days.
• She also takes awhile to power up. Calliope is not a morning person.
• The page load is funky. I knew this going in, so it doesn’t bother me, but there is a weird blinking effect when you turn the page. I try to blink in unison, to give my eyes a rest.
• I’m having a heck of time getting it to remember my furthest read point in a book. And I forget to bookmark, so finding my spot can sometimes take awhile. I need to work on this more.
• The magazine selection is wimpy. Not that I was going to subscribe, but I’m just saying…wimpy.
• I keep wanting to touch the reading screen to navigate…this is my problem, not Calliope’s. As an iPhone user, it’s a bit hard to restrain yourself to a portion of the screen.

And believe it or not, I’ve actually reached up to physically turn the page a few times. So it’s easy to feel like you really are reading a book. I was excited about getting the nook, but I honestly didn’t expect to love it as much as I do.

Andi from Estella’s Revenge has also posted her review of the nook, so check out what she has to say, too. I was just re-reading it, and it seems like we’re liking a lot of the same features.

I’ve never used any other e-reader, and I went with the nook over the Kindle simply because I prefer B&N over Amazon (and poor Sony was never really on my radar). The Kindle (and other e-readers) never really interested me. But when I heard that the nook has a color nav bar, I was suddenly interested. I love to see the covers, so knowing that I could view them on the nav bar (although still not the big screen) in color was a huge draw. Also, I like the idea of nook’s share feature. Not that I know anyone other than Andi who has a nook. But still, being able to share books (even if it’s only for 2 weeks) is way cool.

Is there anyone else out there with a nook?