Getting a Kobo rekindled my passion for reading
When I was younger, I used to read a lot. I used to cram in reading at every possible moment, dashing through trilogies and series in a matter of days. I would consistently start reading a novel, a short story collection, a series of essays and get through the end without getting bored or tired in the process, even if whatever book I had picked didn't fully peak my interest. Physical books, ebooks, fan fiction, blog posts, RSS feeds: you name it, I probably read it.
And then I grew into adulthood.
At some point after my first year of undergraduate studies, I stopped reading as much as I used to. More and more of what I read was content I had to read: textbooks, problem sets, required reading for my courses; not that I didn't like what I was reading (most of the time at least), but mandatory reading certainly overpowered recreative reading to the point that I could spend months without even opening a book.
A certain dystopic event that marked the start of the 2020s (sigh) gave me a lot of free time trapped inside a house that I shared with eight other friends, so in order to not go crazy, I decided to turn back into my passions and hobbies, and in the case of reading I made an investment that initially proved fruitful.
I bought a Kindle.
Initially, the Kindle did wonders for my reading habits. In 2020 alone I read 28 books according to my Goodreads stats, which is 25 more books than the previous year (!!). I felt pushed into the future by the usual wonders of an e-reader: its practicality, being able to carry a sizable collection of books in my pocket, not having to choose which book to carry with me on a walk or when going to a coffee shop, etc.
But, once again, I found myself reading less and less. In 2021 I read 15 less books than the year before, and the number dropped to just two books over all of 2022.
Earlier this year, after finally settling from an international move and a new job with lots of things that were new to me, I decided to re-engage with my passions, pushed in part by the warm and welcoming literary scene in Vancouver. Armed with library cards for the different libraries of Metro Vancouver, I started checking books out and working on my reading once again.
While partially successful, I got caught in the same issues that I used to avoid by reading digital: either I forgot the book I was reading at home, or took the wrong one on my trips and halfway through an hour long commute decided that I actually wanted to read something else.
I then tried getting back into my Kindle, but for some reason, I started noticing some drawbacks from the model I had. My Kindle Paperwhite (2019) felt sluggish whenever I tried to navigate its UI, and changing pages took long enough to break my immersion as a reader. I assumed it was a fault of e-readers in general, of the eInk technology or something similar.
And then I stumbled upon a Kobo stand in an Indigo bookstore.
Up until this point, I knew there were other e-reader manufacturers besides Amazon, but I had assumed that Amazong, by virtue of being the biggest name, had the best technology. This stopped making sense once I started playing around with the different Kobo models on display at the bookstore. I found out that there were color e-readers! This was completely new to me! However, as I don't usually read anything that's not in black and white, I shifted my attention to the other models.
The Kobo Clara BW caught my attention. I liked its small form factor, similar to the Kindle that I had already grown used to. I liked that it didn't have any buttons (contrary to what is apparently the popular belief, I'm more fond of touching the screen to change to the next page). But what really sold it for me was the page change speed. It was years ahead of my Kindle. Everything felt extremely smooth, and in a snap of the fingers I could move from a page to the next to the next to the next.
I went to YouTube and Reddit, watched and read reviews and articles and comparisons, went to the Indigo bookstore a dozen more times to test the devices, meditated over a few more weeks and finally I did it.
I bought a Kobo.
After almost two months of being a Kobo owner, I can happily say that it has served a purpose in increasing the time I dedicate to reading. Besides the fast page turning speed, I also love that I can link my Kobo to my library account (which is not possible for Canadian residents using a Kindle). This lets me access my library's more than eight thousand ebooks and manage my holds and loans directly from my device.
I've used my Kobo to read poetry, short fiction, essays and manga so far, and it's outperformed the Kindle in all areas. That's why, if you go back to the first image of this post, the year 2024 is the year I've read more books in Goodreads (granted, most of those are manga volumes, but it's still a lot of pages to turn and read!).
Indirectly, just having the ability to read in a comfortable way that doesn't break immersion, and also to procure books so easily thanks to the link to my library, has motivated me to get organized and do more reading. I've gone back to reading literary blogs to find recommendations, I've taken part of literature events and creative writing classes and workshops, I've written down notes on what I am currently reading.
In general, I am enjoying consuming books again, and I don't have to force myself to read anymore. Instead, I crave finishing all my other tasks of the day as early as possible to dive into my Kobo and pick up my stories where I last left them. This has also helped reduce my doomscrolling time (although, I won't lie, I still lose time every day wandering the backdoors of TikTok and the like).
So, all things considered, I'm happy with my Kobo. So long, Kindle, you have been dethroned!