For Christmas last year, my husband gave me one of the best gifts ever: $500 in gift cards to Barnes & Noble. (No, he didn't spend that much. As part of his bonus from work, he was able to choose gift cards from one of several companies. He chose the gift card he knew I'd love and gave me his entire bonus.) Since I'd recently gotten an iPhone, I decided to try to get more books for my money by buying ebooks. And while ebooks will never entirely replace "real" books for me, I can definitely understand the appeal. I love being able to read in bed without bothering anyone with a nightlight. I love never being without the book I'm currently reading--or at least always having something in my pocket I can read. And I love going on vacation without having to bring an extra bag just for my books. 

But I hate not being able to lend these books to anyone. Yes, I have the Nook app now, which is supposed to allow me to lend books to friends who are lucky enough to also have a Nook or a Nook app. But the lending technology has to have been approved by the publisher for that specific book, and many of them--most of them, in fact--don't have it. So I might very well end up having to buy these books again, in paperback at least, so I have copies to lend out. Some of them are just too good not to share. 

Here are the books I discovered digitally but might have to add to my real library as well: 

* The Uglies series and the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld 
* The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (probably just the first three books in the series) 
* A long list of books by Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog, Blackout, and  Passage, at the very least. The Domesday Book, I'm happy to say, was not available as an ebook, so I already bought it in paperback. Come by and borrow it sometime.