Amazon Kindle!!!

Last night, I became the proud owner of an Amazon Kindle. It was hard for me to make the decision to go Kindle at first - like so many bibliophiles, reading is so much more than just. . .well, reading. It's a sensory experience - I love the texture and the smell of a new book, and the crisp feel of the pages. When the Kindle first came out, I scoffed at it because I knew I would lose all of those things. Then my friend Paula showed me her Kindle and it was love at first sight. The E-Ink display makes it much more like an actual book page than a computer screen (for obvious reasons, I would not want to be reading a book on a computer screen after staring at one all day long at work), and the mere convenience factor I think is what finally what won me over. (Plus, let's be honest - I'm basically a computer geek these days, and I'm a sucker for a new electronic gadget. I'll probably even give in to the iPhone craze before too long.) Out of box, the Kindle holds approximately 200 books. You can also add additional memory to hold even more books. When we went to Jamaica this summer, I took an entire bookbag filled with books and stashed a couple more in my suitcase. I read all the books from the bookbag and one of the ones from the suitcase. I took up so much space drag books halfway around the world, and running through the airport (when we missed our flight) with that bookbag on my shoulder may have contributed to my frequent trips to the chiropractor these days.

I mentioned the Kindle to Cy, and he had never heard of it, but he was instantly on board. After growing up a military kid, he is the ultimate anti-pack-rat. Having hoards of books taking over our entire house I think drives him a little bit crazy. I was going to just ask for the Kindle for Christmas, but then I was pleasantly surprised to receive a promotion at work, and Cy (anxious to curb the influx of books into our fairly uncluttered house), insisted that I go ahead and buy the Kindle as a promotion present. Of course, I didn't object. :)

Then there was just the torture of waiting for the Kindle to arrive. I thought it might show up as early as Saturday, leaving me some of the weekend to experiment with it, but alas, it didn't show up until the middle of dinner last night. Of course I was able to get nothing done last night. Forget homework, forget the laundry, forget cleaning the bathroom. I was downloading books and reading like a fiend.

The only drawbacks I have found so far are that it doesn't have a backlight (I assumed it would, since it's electronic, but apparently it can't because of the E-Ink technology. But regular old books don't come with backlights either, so it's not like I'm losing anything, right?), and it's not waterproof. Okay, this last part sounds weird, but one important thing to know about me is that I am a bubble-bath-oholic, and my favorite thing to do is read a book in the bathtub. I have never once dropped a book in the bathtub, and I've been reading in the bathtub for. . .well, probably as long as I have been able to read. . .but since the Kindle was a little pricey, I was afraid to risk it. So (I am such a dork) I invented what I like to refer to as my "Redneck Kindle Cover" - meaning I turned the Kindle on and then stuck it inside a Ziploc Freezer Bag and sealed it up. That way, it at least gave the illusion of being waterproof, and I could still click the Next Page button.
I know, I'm a total dork. But all this to say, my Kindle is amazing and I will probably never get anything productive done now that I have it.