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Literati Love

Most of you know that I not only write here on Champagne Living, but I’m also one of the “broads” on The Review Broads. While we review all sorts of products and services, we pride ourselves on our book reviews. If you’ve been keeping up with us, you’d know that Mr. James Patterson seems to like our reviews as well – and he’s added our blurbs to the front and back covers of three of his most recent books (with blurbs inside the front of quite a few other books of his).

As a result, I almost always have a book either tucked into my handbag or in my hand…in case I get a few minutes to read. This means that I’m lugging around a (usually) hard cover book, losing my place when my bookmark falls out, etc.

My brother has a Kindle. While it’s very cool – I just couldn’t wrap my head around why I’d want to give up the REAL DEAL for an electronic version of my books. There’s no ink on paper smell, no weight to it, no sounds of the pages turning (especially significant if you don’t like the book and have to press through – each page turn is a battle leading to the end of the war).

Yesterday I received the new Literati eReader from The Sharper Image.  I didn’t want to like it. I figured that I’d review it out of curiosity and then hand it off to someone for a holiday gift.


Let me say – I HATE BEING WRONG. While the Literati was odd looking at first glance with it’s long 7′ screen and buttons that resemble a calculator of letters at the bottom) One touch of the “on” button and I was faced with the clarity of a backlit screen, the brilliant colors (yes – this eReader has a COLOR SCREEN) and 25 books pre-loaded (with 125 more pre-selected books FREE to download).

They know how to get me – right in the heart! While there were mostly classics like “Call of the Wild”, “Moby Dick” and “The Odyssey of Homer”  — Literati contained a few surprises such as….

That’s right. Nina Garcia’s “The Little Black Book of Style”. A book that’s been on my “must buy” list for WAY too long. While “The Scarlet Letter” is good reading, with Thanksgiving coming, I’m excited about reading Gordon Ramsay’s “Cooking for Friends.”

My first concern was, am I going to be able to buy the newest book’s like my brother can? The answer is a resounding YES. There are over 2 MILLION books available for purchase on the Literati at just the touch of a button (and your credit card of course), and unlike the OTHER eReaders (whose names I won’t mention), the Literati is going to allow you to download magazines and newspapers as well, beginning in November/December (plus some great upgrades including the ability to “dog ear” your page, custom bookshelves and a new NIGHT reading mode).

There are large arrows on the frame allowing you to move forward and back, making reading a seamless experience, and you can control the font, the size of the font and making it so that many people who need reading classes can read WITHOUT THEM (great for someone like me who hates putting on my reading glasses when I’m wearing contacts).

I can store my entire LIBRARY on this fun gadget, by adding an optional 8 GB SD card (it comes installed with 512 MB of storage).

NOW I GET IT. I understand WHY people prefer using an eReader over carrying a book around. Just don’t tell my brother – he’ll totally rub it in.

At only $159.99 the Literati is available for purchase at Sharperimage.com. What a GREAT ADDITION to your holiday gift list!


****PLEASE NOTE – I wrote this review a week ago and have been using my Literati pretty heavily since. There have been some ISSUES with it, and I wanted to be certain that you know about them before going out and purchasing one. The Literati that I have seems to have problems with one of the key’s (“M”) sticking and when I type in a book that I’d like to purchase I have to really push that key down hard. I’ve had issues with other keys as well. This is an important issue!!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of The Sharper Image and received a Literati eReader to facilitate my review.

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