The first time someone suggested you could easily transport thousands of books in your coat pocket, they were promptly burned at the stake. It was CES 1968, and that perpetually nodding Drinking Bird toy was the main attraction. (That, and a scented Citronella candle said to repel witches.) In today’s day and age, however, the notion of accomplishing just such a feat is about as anomalous as a peanut butter sandwich. Seemingly every e-book on the market promises the ability to store an obscene amount of text across multiple formats, and also guarantees upward of 10,000 page turns on a single battery charge. So, take heed the next time you’re looking to read a couple consecutive 5,000 word novels in one sitting. Amid the swell of the many homogenous e-books we encountered on the showroom floors of CES, a few really jumped off the page, so to speak, and wowed us with their way with words (also so to speak). And no, we don’t carry them all. (But that shouldn’t stop us from looking, right?)

enTourage eDGe

Touted as the “world’s first dualbook,” a kind of e-reader/netbook hybrid, the enTourage eDGe pretty much does it all … aside from slicing, dicing or making julienne fries. (Sorry.) It does, however, make good use of the symbiotic relationship forged by its innovative dual screen format. Comprised of a 9.7-inch e-ink display and a 10.1-inch LCD screen for reading and Andriod-enabled computing, respectively, the eDGe’s e-reader capabilities are only the beginning. In addition, users can watch related (or unrelated) videos, surf the Internet and email with its built-in WiFi, 3G and/or Bluetooth and access a plethora of applications, including streamlined Microsoft Office functionalities, on the LCD netbook side of things. Oh, and you can read e-books, too. Right now, obviously, this thing’s all the rage. And at $499, pre-orders are already set to ship next month. Let’s just hope the odd capitalization of “enTourage eDGe” isn’t some sort of style choice that carries through to all your reAdINg maTeRIal. (That’d be annoying, huh?)

Plastic Logic’s Que

So, you’ve got a reader that can store a bagillion e-books. Now all you need is an indefinite leave of absence from work to go about reading everything in your library. While it’d be nice to read books all day, Plastic Logic understands just how much our occupations actually direct our reading habits and materials, and with Que, they mean business. Referred to as a “proReader,” the tablet-style, touch-sensitive Que has partnerships with a slew of business journals and national newspapers the likes of USA Today and The Wall Street Journal to offer customized and authentic reading experiences, in which the original page layout has been preserved. It’s also especially adept at presenting editable PDFs and PowerPoints. Expect to see Que on market by April with a couple options: $649 for Que with WiFi, and $799 for Que with 3G. Oh yeah, and since it’s made from plastic, they say it’s shatterproof, so it won’t break when you slam it on the ground after a co-worker sends you a bar graph when you specifically asked for a pie chart.

Sony Reader Daily Edition

The newest installment to the Sony e-reader family is the Daily Edition, which allows for complimentary access to AT&T’s 3G network. Wherever there is an AT&T signal, users now have wireless access to the eBook Store from Sony. So, the next time you’re halfway through the fifteenth of the one thousand twenty-five books in your stored library and decide perhaps you want to read something else, go ahead and read something else. The 7” e-ink touch screen also allows for annotating and highlighting with a relatively sophisticated stylus: Your finger, or failing that, your nose. Plus, if you were reading this article on the new Sony Reader, you could access the built-in New Oxford American Dictionary to look up the word “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis.” (Seriously, that’s a word, and a win in Scrabble.)

Samsung

Samsung just got into the e-reader business, and how convenient that their announcement just so happened to correspond with CES. While final and absolute details are pending, we can tell you this much: The new models, of which there are 4, will allow for reading, writing and get this … sharing. Utilizing the built-in WiFi, and Samsung’s “EmoLink” technology, the devices allow for broadcasting text, images or otherwise to other EmoLink-enabled devices, such as an Internet connected Samsung TV. An applicable situation in which this would be useful? The classroom. (A very high-tech one.) Not only would teachers be able to send out study materials from a computer at the head of the class, but the students would also have the ability to EmoLink their own content to the board, eliminating the need to walk to the front of the class. Let’s just hope they don’t nix gym. Expect these in “early 2010” … which is any day now.

jetBook – Lite

This e-reader caught our eye for a couple reasons. For one, it has the lowest price point on the market at $149. But not only that—and this is what really got our attention—the jetBook – Lite is equipped with a 5-inch reflective TFT screen manufactured by Toshiba. (I know, right?!) So, what that means is that the somewhat aggravating pause and then black splash page that accompanies the turning of a page with most e-readers, is gone completely! So then why just $149? Well, it’s actually just a signed hard paper copy of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Just kidding. To cut the cost, the jetBook folks ditched the onboard battery panel and elected for an old fashioned AA powering set-up—four of ‘em, to be precise. It also does not connect to the Internet via 3G or wireless like each of our other e-reader finds. Bottom line: This one is for the simple-minded, and we mean that in a good way, who don’t mind hooking their e-reader up to their computer to load content and stocking up on AAs, just like our grandparent’s grandparents used to do.

The Demy

Not a traditional e-reader, but cool enough for a mention, the Demy is promoted as the first kitchen-safe digital recipe reader. Utilizing keyingredient.com, the Demy is fed recipes according to the free profile the user sets up. Kinda like Facebook for foodies. Via a USB connection, over 250,000 recipes in categories ranging from breakfasts to desserts are shared between friends and content providers. The device is brightly lit, colored and even built to rest at a comfortable reading level upon your countertop. It’s also touch screen and flour-fingers resistant with available screen protectors. In addition to the recipes, of which you’re free to upload and share some of your own, the Demy includes a handy measurement conversion calculator and a timer. Yummy!