Wife has expressed she’d like one, but I only have a budget of about £40ish.
Looking for alternatives to the kindle, ideally something paper like screen, WiFi, adjustable backlight and OK for kindlebook formats.

Anything worth considering? I’ve no clue about ereaders as I don’t read anything other than reference books or journals.

Ta

I have a nook and like it, assuming they are still available I’d recommend. I have the glow one which is backlit and is nice.

I’ve also got a Nook, I got it a couple of years ago for about £30 and it’s similar to a Kindle but doesn’t support Kindle format books natively, although there are workarounds for this. It misses out on the simplicity of Amazon’s ecosystem too.

I believe Nook pulled out the market in the UK, transferring the content to Sainsburys, who also pulled out last month and transferred their content to Kobo.

I think the main players in the UK now are Kobo and Amazon, Amazon are much larger and their integration is seamless, but you are tied to them. I’ve not bought anything from Kobo.

but you are tied to them

Nah. You can upload your own ebooks to the unit. Yes, the only STORE you can buy from on the reader is Amazon but outside that it’s fair game. I have a lot of work related stuff on mine for example.

Hard to recommend anything other than Kindle, tbh.

Cheapest Kindle is £56 now, but there are tons of them on ebay usually – selling them is legit and re-registering to your wife is a piece of cake.

The “special offers” on the cheap Kindle are surprisingly unobtrusive – you get a plain ad on the lock screen, and nothing whilst using the device.

but you are tied to them

Nah. You can upload your own ebooks to the unit. Yes, the only STORE you can buy from on the reader is Amazon but outside that it’s fair game. I have a lot of work related stuff on mine for example

Fair enough, I’ve not bought an ebook in a while as my wife lost a load due to DRM when the vendor she bought them from went under.

I’ve used Calibre in the past to ensure I can keep the books I have, but I am not a massive reader and buy a lot of books from charity shops now. After using my nook for a while I’ve decided I prefer physical books.