Kindle? Kindle!

Those who know me very well know that I am a frequent library flyer.  I love to browse the shelves, track down new favorite authors, and bring home stacks of new books every week.  It is kind of an addiction and periodically I will stop going and force myself to re-read books that I already own, just to slow my reading pace.  Though you would think I would love bookstores too, they aren’t as fun, because I’m limited – I’m always afraid of spending hard earned cash on a book that wasn’t all that good.  I find myself spending those rare gift cards on books I’ve already read and know that I love.

So, though the Amazon Kindle (electronic book) has intrigued me, I’ve never really thought it would be a good fit for me – I don’t buy books and if I do, why would I buy an electronic version when I could buy a physical book that I can put on my shelf and look at?  Plus, I really like the physical part of reading a book – I have a sort of physical memory of where in the book things happen.  This served me well in college when I was looking for quotes to include in essays.  I’d think, “hmm, that quote I’m remembering … it was about a third of the way in the book, on the left hand page, about halfway down …”  and most of the time I’m pretty darn close, particularly on the which side of the page part.  How would that work with a Kindle?  Not at all!

But this Christmas Tom surprised me – truly surprised me – with the gift of a Kindle.  I wasn’t sure what to think.  It’s cool, to be sure.  It’s slim and lightweight and really the perfect physical fit for reading.  The screen has this new technology – E-ink – which I can’t really explain, but that looks an awful lot like a printed page.  The background is really white and the type is really dark and there’s no backlight – it looks like paper.  There’s big buttons on either side that make turning pages really convenient with either hand.

It also has some other perks, like a wireless connection and an experimental web browser (which is nice but not super easy to use, since there is no touchpad – just directional arrows).  It has an easy-to-use USB connection (my computer sees the Kindle without any software and there are folders to which I can drag and drop book files).

Coincidentally, I had already downloaded some free books for Kindle, using their “Kindle for PC” because on Jane Austen’s birthday there were about 10 free Austen sequels available and I was curious!  I was able to download them to my Kindle via wireless with nary a cord in sight.  I then added the LDS scriptures (Kindle reads the Mobi format quite handily) and suddenly I could take my scriptures to church again (I’ve quit taking them because I’m already carrying a binder and The Children’s Songbook and that was all the weight I could pack (not to mention I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to use my scriptures since I’m playing the piano most of the two hours of Primary).  Then I added some free e-books available all over the web (mostly books out of copyright – lots of classics).  Then I settled down to read …

I REALLY like reading with the Kindle.  I like the way it fits in my hand and how comfortable it is to read in bed.  Imagine lying on your side, holding a book with one hand, easily turning pages, not struggling to prop up the book … awesome thought, no??  I was in love!  Text too small?  make it bigger with a touch of a button.  Having to turn pages too often?  make the text smaller.  I got online to see what I could learn about the Kindle.  It plays audio files – books, music, even has a text-to-sound application that will read your e-books aloud.  Haven’t used that yet, but someone said they turn that on, turn the sound down, and then the Kindle actually turns the pages automatically.  Think of how cool that would be in the bath?  And speaking of the bath – just pop the Kindle in a Ziplock (or two) and it can join you!!

Only downside?  I can’t check out books to read on the Kindle.  My library only loans EPub e-books that are DRM protected.  Kindle won’t read those and the conversion software that is out there doesn’t strip the DRM.  But on the upside, I can upload my own documents and Kindle will let me read those – cool!

So, I’m converted – though it probably won’t replace my library browsing.  But I might read a few more classics – particularly those that are super long (I loaded War and Peace since I’ve never read that before).  Next time you see me, ask for a Kindle tour!!