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This January, I finally caved to e-books and bought a Kindle Paperwhite — it was time to let go of prejudices I’d been holding on to for way too long. For most of my life, I was a book purist, a print-or-nothing snob. I bought stacks of hardcovers and paperbacks from favorites like Neil Gaiman, Alice Hoffman and, of course, J.K. Rowling, and brought home more from the library.

Then around 2015, I leveled up in the realm of modern storytelling: I hit play on my first ever digital audiobook — "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride," with actor and author Cary Elwes (the movie’s Westley) narrating. And I became obsessed with my new literary freedom. Sporting my iPhone and a pair of earbuds, I could wash dishes and read, knit scarves and read, or walk the dogs and read. Hooked into my car speaker, I could commute and read. Multitasking hit a new level — I more than doubled the number of books I finished each year.

From e-reader aversion to Kindle attachment

I’ve avoided e-books for many reasons: Primarily, I’m on a computer all day for work and the last thing I want is to stare at another screen during my downtime. Plus, I was feeling a bit like Goldilocks when it came to tech. I owned an iPad but it was too heavy and bulky to hold up for long. I had an iPhone but it was too small for sinking into 400 pages of the latest Louise Penny mystery. Other e-readers I tested usually fell somewhere in the middle, but still felt more like computers than books. The original Nook was too slow for me — cutting into reading capacity. And tablets billed as e-readers were still functionally tablets — keeping me from escaping social media and other distractions.