I love my Kindle.
There. I said it. It’s out in the open now. And I’m okay with that.
Don’t get me wrong—I love real books. In fact, I love them so much that they’ve taken over our house. The bookshelves are packed tight and sagging and groaning under the weight of all of them. I have books stuffed in the closet, stacked next to the bookshelves and jammed into every available nook and cranny.
There is something so familiar about the smell of the books, the feel of the pages in my hands. Some of my best memories of my childhood are of my mom taking me to the library every Tuesday to get a fresh batch of novels. Yeah, I was that kid. I preferred to spend my summers sprawled out in my backyard or at the pool reading. I was shy and books were my friends.
There's definitely room for both
When Bill got his Kindle last year I scoffed and mocked. I treated him like a traitor to literature. I couldn’t believe he’d enjoy reading electronically. But he did. In fact, he reads more than he did pre-Kindle because he takes it everywhere he goes.
This Christmas I decided to get one for my dad. He’s been lugging this massive book on Lincoln around forever. He wants to finish it, but he hates having to hold the 1,000-page tome. Plus, it’s not really convenient to drag to the gym to pass the time on the bike. And he can adjust the font size to accommodate his 81-year-old eyes.
The more I researched it, the more I thought about getting one.
Bill picked up on that and gave me one for Christmas, too, and I love it. I often read on my lunch hour and sometimes it’s a pain to haul a big book around to the mall food park. Plus? Sometimes I just wanna read breezy fiction like “Chasing Harry Winston”—but I don’t always want everyone to know it.
And the instant gratification is the best. The other day I finished a book halfway through lunch and voila! 60 seconds later I had a new book to enjoy.
I won’t stop reading “real” books. But I gotta tell ya, I am lovin’ my Kindle.
YAY! Another convert! I have had a Kindle since the January they first came out. Like you, books – actual dead tree, paper books – were taking over my house. My house is already teensy. I absolutely LOVE my Kindle. I get that people love the smell of a book, and turning the pages. I still read “traditional” books as well. When asked about it, I usually recommend people get one, but I also tell them they need to be a big reader. Otherwise, it seems to me it’s an investment they don’t need to make.
Word of caution: Take your Kindle out of your bag at airports, just like a laptop. Otherwise, security gets all squinky with you and pull you aside and go thru your stuff. Trust me. I know…
Good to know. I’ll do that.
I did notice one thing. Yesterday I opened my Kindle to read for a few minutes and lunch and it was dead. I charged it fully, a couple of days earlier but didn’t use it so I was surprised. Do you have to just keep it charging if you aren’t using it? Because you can’t turn it off-off, right?
I want one badly. Am in love with real books. It won’t make me stop buying them. But maybe it will make it where I only buy the ones I plan to re-read forever.
That’s what I was thinking. The books that I really love I will buy and keep.
I was surprised that you could download cookbooks. I need to have a real, hard-backed cookbook to make notes in (although you can do that in a Kindle) and pictures of the finished meal.
Hubby has one and loves it. I’m not sure about it… I LOVE technology. LOVE. But I also love a good book, the FEEL of a book.
But then again, I could do without the hand cramp I get when I hold the book with one hand and read with a glass of wine.
The Kindle is so much easier to juggle than books when you’re reading with cocktails.
I saw one in real life for the first time just the other day and it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I understand there’s a new generation Kindle coming out soon that’s even more eye-friendly and not quite as big or thick or something. I’m actually getting tempted to get one and I never thought I’d say that.
I have the second generation Kindle and it’s pretty eye friendly and it’s thinner and lighter than the first generation. There’s no backlight so it simulates real books pretty well.
Mo,
You might just make me a convert too. I’ve been lacking in the reading department lately and your points are good. But, can you get a good smell off the Kindle?
Maybe we can invent a spray. Like when you have a fake Christmas tree…you can buy that pine-like spray. For the Kindle we’ll come up with a Real Book mist.
Kindle is extremely convenient and no doubt many has loved it. Still, printed books holds a lot of memories.