Things I Love Thursdays: My Kindle

  • Posted on May 24, 2012 at 8:03 am

I am a book person.  Like, a physical book person.  I’m one of those people who likes the feel of the pages, the act of turning them, and the way books smell. So I took a long time to warm up to the idea of a Kindle.

When I was nursing Benjamin, and lamenting about my lack of reading time, someone suggested I check out all the free Kindle titles available – since I could read them on my phone. It was amazingly convenient for nursing/pumping – I had a selection of books, at my fingertips, without dragging paper copies everywhere.  But the screen was too small, and I had to flip pages a lot, and the screen would tire my eyes out after a while, since I basically just stare at a computer screen all day anyway.

I was griping about all of this one day, when someone asked if I had actually looked at a Kindle, and the display on it. They said it was different, and interesting – and wouldn’t wear my eyes out.  Being that usability is what I do, I had to test these claims.  I found one at a store, and it was really different – it felt like looking at paper.  No back lighting, no weird refresh rates.  And I loved it.

But, Kindles are not cheap.  So I hemmed and hawed and put off buying one.  And then Chad bought me one for Christmas (a nicer one than I was going to buy for myself, at that).  You guys, I am totally sold on this thing.  I carry 700+ books around in my purse, all the time.  My cousin in Alabama lends me books via email.  I can buy books anywhere (okay, this one is dangerous).

Now, I’m not going to give up my print copies of books anytime soon.  The lending feature on Kindle is still kind of weird, and I’d like to be able to lend my books to anyone I want whenever I want.  And I still balk if the Kindle book costs more than the paperback.  But – The amount that I get to read has doubled or tripled since I got it.  With Amazon Prime’s Kindle Lending Library, I can read an extra book a month, free. So I’m basically never without a book.

And that’s what I love about my Kindle.

For more Things I Love Thursdays, head over to Be The Difference!

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