And…What?

Maybe it’s mommy-brain. Or more specifically, the hit my brain cells took in the memory retention department after having a child.

See, I used to be an avid reader. I’m not exaggerating when I say I could finish a full Nancy Drew novel in less than a few hours when I was eight.

And I read all through high school and even college. Most of the latter was required, but I still count it because the loans I just paid off totally give me the right to do so.

Then I had a baby. And ever since she came along, I’ve become just as versed in Dr. Suess, Olivia, Miss Spider, and anything else that rhymes, is cute, or based on a cartoon as I was about Nancy, Bess, George, and Ned before I had responsibilities.

Books for adults just intimidate me now. They are so, well, big! (Hello gutter…insert mind.)

Really, how am i supposed to sit down with a 200 page anything and not feel obligated to tell the dishes or laundry to kiss my ass while I spend some quality me-time so I can finish said masterpiece before moving on to the next?

But as I writer, I know I’m supposed to be reading to fuel my creativity. I just need it in smaller chunks.

So I got a nook.

It was love at first download.

Here I am, able to choose a book in my library, read a few pages, and walk run away to catch Buttercup as she tries diving off the couch because she thinks she can fly before starting dinner, eating, cleaning up, and sitting back down to read and happily find that my nook is super-smart with that whole book-marking thang.

I can even pick up and keep reading on the blackberry. Or my computer. Or lend a book to The Husband. All with free down-loadable e-reader software.

It’s like little pieces of manageable heaven for the parentally-inclined.

Of course, I had to get a kickin’ case for it. And after agonizing for way longer than is considered normal, I chose the Jonathan Adler Punctuation cover on the B&N site. It’s black (read: Pauline-proof for staining), has a nifty business-card holder and places to stuff crap I’ll wonder why I stuffed there later, and if you flip it from front to back fast enough…plenty of attitude, too.

I’ll give you a minute to figure that one out. For the stragglers, just think really hard. It’ll come to you.

The best part was being able to take all six of my new books with me to my writer’s conference because I couldn’t decide which one to pack. I only had time to read one, but the Indecisive Idiot in me was calmed to the core knowing I wouldn’t have to decide until the Moment of Truth was actually upon me.

Mama likes.

And that’s my review.

*Disclosure: We didn’t get jack-squat for free. But I am adding this bad boy to my tax-write off list for 2010. So there.