June 15th

So I broke down on Thursday and ordered myself a Kindle II. I've been having terrible shoulder pain lately and I began to notice an eerie correlation between book thickness and shoulder pain - the thicker the book I'm reading at any given time, the more Tylenol my shoulder requires. How pathetic is that? I get READER'S SHOULDER and that's the full extent of my fitness-related injuries. (I always read while I exercise).

Anyway, the Kindle came to mind because it's lightweight and thin and most importantly - it lays flat and requires nothing but a single button tap to flip a page.  I don't actually have to hold it while I read either. I figured it would do two things - eventually save me money (e-books are generally less than $10, even for hard-cover bestsellers) and it would alleviate my shoulder pain.

I WAS COMPLETELY UNPREPARED FOR HOW MUCH I WOULD LOVE IT.

I LOVE my Kindle. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

Within ten minutes of opening the package, I transferred my OWN manuscript to the device. For free. And now I can read/edit my book using the Kindle's handy keyboard and I have saved myself approximately 14 ink cartridges and 27 trees (it's 300 pages long!). The best part is that I can edit my book WHILE I EXERCISE. In fact, the Kindle will READ MY BOOK TO ME OUT LOUD, a feature I didn't think I would use until I was stuck in the car alone twice this weekend and there was nothing good on the radio.

When I tweeted about the Kindle, I only received negative responses. Why is everyone fighting the ebook revolution? Even as an aspiring writer, I don't see the downside.  I mean, I will always still buy real books, but the Kindle gives me IMMEDIATE access.  On Saturday, I drove to Portland for my first Romance Writer's of America meeting and one of the authors there referenced a recently published book. I had my Kindle in my purse (it's so thin, it's like Virginia Slim), so in less than a minute, I bought her Harlequin for $6.39 and started reading it right there at the meeting. I call that a WIN-WIN.

In other news, look what Alex can do!
That would be him riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. Two weeks ago, we bought Alex a lighter bike with the hope we'd be able to take off the training wheels some time this summer, but we were at the park on Friday night and he just hopped on his friend Lauren's bike and IMMEDIATELY STARTED RIDING IT.  No practice - just VROOOOM.  We were floored!

Comments

[Annagrace]

I think that's AWESOME. But I live with a man that wants to be buried one day in the Mac store, surrounded by computers that never break down. And I for one don't think that efficiency is snobby. So there.

[emily]

The Kindle is just the book version of the iPod. People were resistant at first ("I love the album artwork!", "It is just such a more personal experience with a real LP/CD!") and yeah, pretty much everyone now has an iPod. Glad to hear a good review and hope the shoulder is better!

[Kim]

Yay Alex!

I think the grass is key -- kids aren't so afraid of falling on it (except for mine, of course).

And wow! Those are some cool features the Kindle has. I had no idea.

[Klara]

For me, the issue is money, plain and simple. Until the books cost 10 cents each and the Kindle itself costs $100, I'll stick with library books!

[Brenda C]

I got my Kindle II in March and LOVE it! I could not live without it. I keep it in my purse and read so much more then I read before the Kindle.

Enjoy your Kindle II!

[cindy w]

I adore my Kindle. I especially love that I can make the fonts extra-extra large for my stupid old-lady eyesight. Seriously, it's awesome.

[Alias Mother]

I'm with Klara. I'm sure it's super convenient, but...eh. The payback time just seems too long. I've got better things to spend my money on and the library is free, after all. Besides, I'm just not a gadget person.

Alex looks gigantic all of a sudden. What is her, 15 now?

[Janine]

I also LOVE my Kindle II. I take it everywhere with me and even read when I'm waiting in line. I also use the basic web feature quite often.

[alison]

This may sound odd, but what I love most about reading is the smell of the book. Seriously. I just can't give that up.

Yay, Alex!

[Grace]

I would love a Kindle but there's that obstacle of the price. It would be SO awesome to have this while I was waiting to pick up my kids and when we're out doing errands and taking long drives. [sigh] Maybe one day....

[nuncyhere]

I have been really interested in getting a Kindle. The one thing I have not been able to confirm is if it lights up. My main use for it would be for reading in bed. I usually use a booklight so I don't wake my husband, but it is a real pain. Does it have a light up feature?

[Joceline]

My main reason for holding out on the Kindle is that I rarely buy books at even CLOSE to full price. I buy used, I sell my books to used stores and use the credit, I trade, loan, borrow, and use the library occasionally. I will buy a Kindle immediately when there's an option to pay some sort of eBook "library" subscription fee. If I could pay a flat fee each month to have unlimited access to a database of free books, life would be perfect! I hope I explained that in a way that makes sense; I'm bleary-eyed exhausted right now!

[She Likes Purple]

I work for a publishing company, and we're all embracing the digital evolution of publishing. I just read a great take on it on Huffington Post.

This is definitely on my Christmas list. Except I'd like it next week.

[dregina]

I have some libertarian issues with the amount of control Amazon keeps over the books you buy. I'd much rather pay for a book than a license to read a book: http://gizmodo.com/369235/amazon-kindle-and-sony-reader-locked-up-why-your-books-are-no-longer-yours.

[David]

"So I broke down on Thursday and ordered myself a Kindle II."

You forgot to mention that this break down and purchase was made possible through a generous grant from the Grandma Carol economic stimulus plan. ;)

[Jen Zug]

The ability to upload my manuscript and edit it remotely? Hm... warming up to the idea.