[kwlug-disc] e-Readers -> e-Libraries - corners creased, sticky notes and bookmarks left in ... wha?

[B.S.]

Googling, Wikipedia, ebooks (?), (Ubuntu/Debian server) documentation 
sites, pdf's, tldp ... there's so many sources for information and 
reading. For the purposes of this message, think of knowledge 
acquisition / book reading more than quick Google to find a quick answer 
to a question. [Hoping for a 'one true way' / linear pathway...]

So once again I cast my eyes across various technical books on my 
shelves, looking to grok a topic, and once again see how outdated 
everything is and now consumed, and more current, electronically.

So one looks up 'ebook' (just looking to bring up information on a 
laptop - i.e. not a tablet, and not dedicated ereading hardware), and 
gets buried in 'not where I was trying to go' results - see first 
paragraph. Like eformats - instead of, where are the books, and how do I 
read them?

Is there something / term / concept out there like an 'XBMC for "books"' 
out there? [Please pardon my abuse of 'XBMC' as 'merely' representing 
collecting all things audio and TV presentement, into a common front end 
/ access mechanism.]

Further ... it occurs to me how many books I've picked up and put down 
(in theory to come back and further pursue later), perhaps with notes in 
margins, corners folded, bookmarks left, or sticky notes inserted. So 
perhaps a 'personal card catalogue' / indexing system is in play?

Is there an electronic version of 'all this stuff', what is it, and what 
is the current terms/concepts of whatever it is I am blindly and vaguely 
groping towards here?

- please note I run KDE/Kubuntu, not Gnome/Ubuntu, nor any 'light' 
display or window manager. So 'Gnome' solutions aren't going to help.

What be this beastie be? (Or, like IM and Skype recently, it's Beasties 
plural, and we just have to deal?)