the single-use device every reader should own

it's time to ditch the kindle

it took me a long time to succumb to an ereader. i’ve always loved the feeling of a book in my hands, the race to turn over to the next page in a story dripping with tension, the crisp sound of the page turning, sometimes just admiring it on my desk or feeling the weight of it in my bag. last summer, i carried around blue sisters by coco mellors (i loved it so much) like it was another limb. there’s something comforting about a bunch of pages neatly stacked together, wrapped around a thoughtful, artistic cover that can reel you back into the story every time you look at it, even if just for a moment.

but then i remembered my extremely long tbr and my purse that does not stretch nearly as far as it would need to to afford all my bookish wishes. so a few years ago, i was finally convinced to add an ereader to my life, and i knew nothing other than a kindle, so i was gifted one for my birthday. if only i had given myself time to search a little longer—actually, if only i knew to search!

too often i feel as if we are caught up in the script. need a new phone? iphone or samsung. a new sofa? beige, black or something neutral. moving house and need new crockery? everything has to be plain white or an inoffensive colour like grey or cream. i recently bought a house with my partner, and we decided we would paint our second bedroom mint green and some version of red or maroon for our living room. his mother immediately disapproved (lovingly), saying we should go for a more neutral, timeless colour like white or cream. but why? isn’t that wildly boring? i don’t think many of us stop to think that actually, you don’t need a timeless colour on your walls or sofas just because that’s just “what you do”. you have free will! get a pink sofa for goodness sake. but back to ereaders.

if i hadn’t just settled for the first device that came to mind, i would have discovered boox and avoided all the problems that followed after buying my kindle.

although i loved reading on an ereader and how i could keep hundreds of books on one small, lightweight device, i was too distracted by the lost potential of the browser. it’s so slow. i’m not even sure why they bothered to include the function. i started to wish there was a similar device that let me read a bunch of books as well as my favourite substack writers, online publications and magazines via the libby app.

and thankfully, i discovered boox.

here are all the reasons i love my boox go 6, and why you should ditch the kindle (and amazon in general really).

i can read whatever i want on an e-ink screen

the new yorker, 404 media, lit hub, the guardian, noema magazine—it’s all in one cosy, eye-strain-free place. i’ve created browser shortcuts on my homescreen to all my favourite magazines and apps, so it’s much easier to decide which publication i want to read and go from there. and of course, i have downloaded the kobo reading app to read all the ebooks i’ve purchased too.

i can browse the internet, not at a snail’s pace

this isn’t a tablet, it’s still an e-ink device, so the refresh rate of the screen is noticeable, but it’s also kind of nice (you can also adjust it in settings to make it faster). where’s the rush when you’re trying to settle in for a cosy reading session anyway? the slight delay in loading one screen to another is like a little practice in patience. we’re so used to getting everything we want at the speed of light on our mini computers in our pockets, we’ve forgotten that not everything needs to happen immediately.

it’s the ultimate distraction-free writing tool

it took me a while to figure this out, but this device is also compatible with bluetooth, meaning i could download the google docs app, connect my keyboard and have a distraction-free, e-ink writing experience! i was simply blown away when i first tried this, especially as it gave me an excuse to use my fun typewriter keyboard. admittedly, i don’t use it too much for writing. it’s hard to balance the ereader on something if i want to write somewhere that isn’t my desk (hello currently from the daybed in our office) and the ratio between my chunky keyboard and the dainty size of this device is a little jarring. i’m on the lookout for a more compatible keyboard.

it comes with the google play store

you can download absolutely anything you want on this device, and yes, for my organisational girlies, that includes notion. i absolutely love how i can copy a line from a book or article i’m reading and paste it directly into my notion databases without switching devices. i also settle in for some substack newsletter reading some mornings on this device instead of my phone or tablet, and it makes for a much calmer reading experience without a harshly lit screen. there are also lots of options to adjust the screen just how you’d like it.

it’s the perfect size

the boox go 6 is slightly smaller than the kindle, measuring at 6 inches (i think my kindle paperwhite was 7 inches), so i can easily slot it into my little cross-body bags and pull it out on the train when travelling. i don’t have to worry about packed commutes to work on london tubes anymore since i no longer live there (yay), but i do remember the struggle of trying to read a paperback with someone’s actual back digging into the spine of my book while i was just desperately trying to escape into another world instead of living in the reality where i was cosplaying a sardine.

so there are all my main reasons why i love my boox ereader. now i’m just waiting for the boox palma to support sim cards that allow you to make cellular calls and texts or for the clicks communicator to be just a little cuter (that keyboard isn’t quite doing it for me just yet, sorry), or for me to find £300 on the ground so i can get this adorable thing and all my cool tech dreams will have officially come true.

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hello quiet readers, i hope you’ve all been having a wonderful week. does anyone else feel like january is already dragging… i’m trying to keep busy with the newsletter, my youtube channel (i’m uploading today!) and drafting my short story collection to make this dreadful month go by quicker.

anyway, tell me about your ereaders! do you have a kindle and have you been swayed? do you already have a boox device and how much do you love it? or are you a physical book girlie through and through?

thank you for reading this week’s post. here is last week’s on 6 changes i’m making to make 2026 count and here is my youtube channel in case you were in the mood for something cosy to accompany your sunday.

see you next week <3

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