Did you know you can borrow e-books from the King County Public Library? And that Amazon.com has a new lending system for its Amazon Prime customers? Very soon, Amazon's Kindle will be available at stores like and , competing with the sales of the Nook at Barnes & Noble stores.
Redmond still doesn't have a bookstore to replace Borders for buying new books. More and more readers, though, have found that e-readers like the Nook and the Kindle mean the latest title to catch their interest is only minutes, sometimes seconds, away. For avid readers (like me!) this sometimes means downloading a book while on the bus or waiting in line at the grocery store, and not having to wait for a title to show up on a shelf.
E-readers are helping to support the sales of paper books, in fact. Publishers are finding that sales of e-books often cover the cost of producing the paper book, so those book buyers who find the idea of reading on a screen unpleasant can rest assured that their beloved books will still be available. Don't forget Half Price Books and the treasures of McDonald's Book Exchange, either! They're both places you can spend a delightful hour browsing.