Best e-reader deal: Save $20 on the Kobo Clara Colour at Amazon

SAVE $20: The Kobo Clara Colour e-reader is on sale at Amazon for $139.99, down from the list price at Rakuten Kobo of $159.99. That's a 12% discount.

Have you ever tried to pack several books in your luggage before heading off on vacation? It's not easy. Even if you absolutely love the feel of a physical book, it's undeniable that packing a single e-reader with thousands of books preloaded is way more convenient than packing those physical titles. If you're in the market for an e-reader, check out today's deal at Amazon.

As of Aug. 12, the Kobo Clara Colour e-reader is on sale for $139.99 at Amazon, down from the list price at Rakuten Kobo of $159.99. That's a 12% discount that takes $20 off the list price. While that's not a huge discount, scoring the Kobo Clara Colour while it's on sale is super rare, so we're delighted about any discount.

Shocking as it might be, Mashable's favorite e-reader is not a Kindle. It's the Kobo Clara Colour. Kindles are great, but the Kobo Clara Colour won over Mashable Shopping Reporter Samantha Mangino thanks to its smaller size, color display, lack of ads, and waterproof materials. "The Kobo Clara Colour is the Goldilocks of e-readers," wrote Mangino. "If you're just diving into the world of e-readers, and not particularly thrilled about Kindles and their Amazon ties, then the Kobo Clara is the right answer. It offers a color display for those who enjoy manga and graphic novels, but it remains speedy with fast processing when turning pages or swapping between books."

One of the standout features of the Kobo Clara Colour it its friendliness with the Libby app, which gives readers access to millions of book titles for free, so long as you hold a library card. In testing, Mashable's reviewer also enjoyed the larger Kobo Libra Colour, even though it's a bit higher priced than baseline Kindles ($229.99), but thanks to today's sale price, the Kobo Clara Colour comes in at a much more affordable price. That makes it an excellent choice for students or those new to the wonderful world of e-readers.

With the Kobo Clara Colour, expect to get weeks of battery life before you'll need to recharge. It has a less impressive battery life than Mashable found when testing Kindles, but we're willing to make that sacrifice for the price. Mangino explained, "For the same price as the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Clara offers color displays, something you can't get in the Kindle lineup unless you're willing to spend $280. The colors aren't as bright as you'd experience in a physical book, but they're still vivid enough to enjoy a graphic novel."

The 16GB of internal storage can hold up to 12,000 downloaded e-books, which makes the e-reader infinitely easier to carry in your bag. Plus, the Kobo Clara Colour allows you to listen to Kobo Audiobooks with built-in Bluetooth technology.

Since we hardly ever see Kobo e-readers go on sale, now is your time to shine by snagging the Kobo Clara Colour while it's discounted to $139.99 at Amazon. Note that this sale price comes from a third-party seller, BlueProton. Mashable typically discourages buying from third-party sellers at Amazon, but the seller has a solid track record. If you'd prefer, the $139.99 sale price is also available at Rakuten Kobo, which also comes with free shipping.