Christmas Present - Kindle

I suspect that the Kindle is going to be somewhat like the Hoover, the ipod and the walkman in it becomes the generally used name for the ebook reader.  I had been a little uncertain for some time whether one would suit me but having heard so many great reviews from friends and acquaintances who have one that I decided to take the plunge and ask for one for Christmas.

So, after about a week of use I am liking it - not to replace books totally as there are lots of books it just cannot replace but for the novel it works very well.  The positives

• light and easy to hold when reading, especially in bed,
• the text is easy to increase in size to accommodate my awful eyesight
• the books are simple and quick to download (I've got the wifi version) - no sooner have you pressed buy than it is there ready and waiting,
• lots of free classics are available so lots of reading I can catch up with,
• I love the case with its light so I can read in bed and not disturb anyone, or even read when others are watching TV in minimal lighting,
• long battery life, my initial charge has lasted just over a week,
• its also easy to have a couple of books on the go at once something I've struggled with in paper form,
• and most importantly it does feel like reading a book, I have got just as caught up in the story I'm currently reading as I would with the book.

The negatives - well these are very minor and the Kindle has ways of counteracting - I like to see how far I have to go to the middle or end of the book but it gives you percentage read so you almost know - but its not quite the same as feeling how much you've read and how much is still to go.  I also find the page changes a little annoying because I do it quite a lot as I have the text very large to read.  There is a lack of pictures of course which is why it works so well for the novel - but then it saves shelf space for the books with pictures (the music, floristry, cookery books etc) which we can eventually fill our bookshelves with.

There are several aspects I've still to explore such as bookmarks but the thought of having several hundred books with passages marked will be useful, and using it in teaching too - sadly I can't use it in all of my teaching but I'm sure I'm going to find lots of uses for it where I can use it.

Overall for me it will be a great device to carry around and keep with me when I am doing the taxi jobs for Jamie and spend those minutes productively reading.  My initial review is very positive and I'm enjoying using it.

Ciao
Sue
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Currently reading Fallen by Karin Slaughter (on the Kindle)