Definitely with you there Tom. I've got both Kindle and Nook apps on my iPad, and about 100 books loaded (including, yes wagga, several free Project Gutenberg classics!), but I have a hard time enjoying the reading experience. It'll do in a pinch, and it's definitely easier on planes and other public places, but it's just not satisfying. I definitely love the touch-dictionary feature (really handy for Faulkner or Dickens, for instance) and the search/look-up functions, but I swear to God reading any author for any length of time on a screen puts me to sleep.
For me it's not only the feel and smell of handling a book, it's the visual effect of books on a bookshelf. Between my home office and our family room, we've got about 1500 books displayed. Nothing is more warm and inviting to me than a room filled with books. Just seeing those spines, titles, authors dozens of times per day puts a little pep in my step for a moment. There's a subtle, comforting aesthetic to books on a shelf. For me e-books will never replace that.
Even Bri, at 13 and possessing and living though every electronic device you can name, still prefers a physical book. She can spend hours with me at B&N, drinking her Starbucks lattes and browsing the aisles (and coming up to me every five minutes to ask if a title is age-appropriate!). I hope that's a lifelong habit.
