Kindle opinion

I absolutely love to read (see In My Book Bag tab) and I do most of my reading at work. I tend to keep five to ten paperback books in my bag that I carry to and from work, that way I always have a new book handy when I finish one.

We have a wonderful library here in Camarillo; recently redone, large, and beautiful. I go about once a month, walk to the back left corner and walk out with my bag full of books. I always go for the paperbacks because I don't have to check them out and there is no time limit on how long you keep them. Perfect for me because I never know if it's going to be slow or busy at work and how much reading I will be able to do.

When we were planning our vacation, I knew we would be doing a lot of driving and have some downtime where I would want to read. Then I realized that there was a limit on how heavy your bags could be on the airplane and I didn't think that packing twenty books would be a good idea (and paying $50 extra if my bag was overweight definitely made me think twice about bringing books).

So, I {begrudgingly} thought about investing in a Kindle. I was hesitant for many reasons:

~ I get books for free at the library, so I didn't want to pay for them

~ I like having books in hand, turning pages and seeing my progress

~ Technology isn't always my friend and sometimes we rely too often on it

~ I was worried it would be bad for my eyes

~ It shares the name of an ex-boyfriend

After talking to Chris about it, actually looking at it in store and seeing how the prices have come down; I decided to invest in one.

There are things that I really like about it and things I am not fond of.

Likes:

* It is very lightweight (no more carrying around multiple books, making my bags much lighter

* It fits easily into my purse

* I only have to charge it every few weeks

* There is a highlight function that keeps track of quotes I want to remember and files them together

* Easily keeps track of what page I am on (no more losing book marks and trying to figure out where I left off). It opens to the last page viewed when you turn it on

* I got a really cute carrying case from The Pleated Poppy

Dislikes:

* While there are books that are free, the majority of them cost money

* It does need to be charged, using electricity

* It does not have a light, so I need to purchase one designed for the Kindle or read with one on

* The page turning buttons are somewhat sensitive, so sometimes the pages get turned by accident

* I can't look ahead as easily as a regular book to see where the chapter ends

* It doesn't use page numbers, just percentage of reading completed, so knowing exactly where you are if you click ahead to see where the chapter ends makes it kind of difficult to return to the page you were on

* I like to read while taking a bath (tmi?) so I am worried about it falling in and getting ruined

Overall, I'm happy that I have the Kindle (which I have renamed my travel book), especially for our trip. It definitely won't keep me from the library and reading real books, but it is a nice alternative when I have a trip planned, or don't want to carry around multiple paperback books.

What's your favorite new "thing" you have?