My favorites are when the mechanics are about the story. See combat in Dungeon World for example.
You are still rolling dice, crunching numbers, and rules lawyering (the dice take precedence over all) but you are arguing about what happens, not how much damage someone does/takes.
In those games, the fluff is the crunch and the crunch is the fluff, and most of the time they are one and the same.
I play only games that the author calls “rules lite”, and i think they are missing the point entirely. I would call the lighter games “collaborative games” and call the more D&D-like “pre-structured games”.
We dont play these games because they are simpler (though they are), more straightforward (true), or easier to teach new players (also true). Instead we prefer them to D&D because they are more fun (for us).
It’s not about having fewer rules. It’s about having rules that each make the game more fun or exciting. Most D&D groups houserule the system so much that they arent using half of the game’s mechanics, and the other half are heavily modified. The resulting game hardly resembles the one described in the source book, and ends up being slow, tedious, and limiting.
I’d rather play a game that rewards you for learning the actual rules, a game whose mechanics are cohesive, additive, and fit the vibe at the table. I want mechanics that help me be more creative, and help the table create a better and more compelling collaborative story.
D&D is also designed for 4-6 hour sessions. My group does weekly 2 hour sessions, so 5e combat can last weeks. By the third session of combat the players are starting to forget the stakes of the fight.
The games i’m talking about are those like Blades in the Dark, Dungeon World, The Sprawl, Armor Astir, etc. Any serious DM should at least read Dungeon World and Blades in the Dark to get an idea of the philosophy behind these more collaborative games.
My group recently did a campaign of the Avatar the Last Airbender RPG and while it wasn’t my favorite, it wasn’t bad. I liked the system much more than 5e.
my wife has a Kobo reader and it’s a great alternative, from Canada. The reader works great with Calibre on desktop for books you already own, and the Kobo store is more or less equivalent to the Kindle store.
I have no suggestion for getting files off an iPhone, but presumably an app exists to arbitrarily send files to desktop, and from there Calibre works.
Kobo build quality is better than othe e-readers, and it supports color and markups. Overall it’s pretty good for PDFs/textbooks and novels, but manga/comics can be a little goofy.
I cant speak on the syncing since she has only the one device.
Good luck!
Edit: seems like you edited (or i misunderstood) the OP. Kobo (the device) works great with US library lending, but ymmv if you are in another country. If you use the kobo app on your phone it will sync your position with the device, but the app is pretty flawed on mobile and doesnt have a desktop version i’m aware of.
I wouldnt mind using the app to read fiction, but it’s not great for reference material. I use a standalone pdf reader for that kind of thing on my phone, which obviously doesnt sync.