I bought a Mobiscribe recently, for the same reasons. It’s an eReader with an eink display, but it’s an Android tablet. I installed F-Droid, and then NextCloud (to access my ebooks) and Librera Reader. I also use it for listening to podcasts (via Bluetooth, since it’s an Android tablet) and taking notes with the stylus.
Battery life is good, I use it with the wifi off and only had to charge it once, and I read a full book on it.
I haven’t played with the handwriting recognition yet, let me take a look and I’ll report back.