I've had to lay the last couple of years too- and it's not that i may that much money. phooey.
My first reader was a Sony e-book reader. was great for travel, but not for day to day reading. The iPad makes a fantastic e-reader...can get kindle books, iBooks, ePub books.... and my library has a great e-book section. the only drawback is when they don't have all of a series available and i want to keep going- then i end up buying the next 2 or 3 in the series. sigh.
(next stop on this flyby is lurking in the outside)