I’ve owned my Kindle Touch for exactly 3 weeks and I’ve decided it’s time to post a review about it. Spoiler alert: I love it. But here’s the evolution from anti-E-reader to Kindle lover.
I think it was about five years ago that my stepmom got a Sony E-Reader. I was intrigued by this invention, but she only used hers for travel. She’s always been a fast reader, like me, so it was great for her to be able to go on trips and only take the E-reader instead of a bunch of books. Especially since she reads giant Stephen King books.
When I travel for more than a weekend, I’m usually visiting family or going on a fishing trip (which is still visiting family, I guess, since we fish in Tampa and that’s where my in-laws reside). When we do this, we always drive because we tow a boat and bring a bunch of rifles and maybe the Harley and fishing gear and sometimes it feels like we are bringing everything we own, so a bag of 5 books or so is not going to matter. Since I don’t fly or try to keep my gear to a minimum, I never “needed” an E-reader. I was perfectly okay with bringing a bag of books. It was never an inconvenience to bring books with me where I went.
Time went by and E-books were becoming this huge trend and bunch of different E-readers came out. A lot of my friends were buying E-readers and I still stayed firm on my position that I didn’t need one. Then, I started working at a used bookstore and continued buying real books and beginning to really appreciate books in physical form. I suppose you could even say I was totally anti-E-reader.
In January of this year, I started officially book blogging. My best friend and I created an online book club with a few friends and I became more involved on goodreads and all. I blogged about books because it’s what I know and love. I never had any idea that I could receive books for free from authors or publishers. I never even knew I could win free books from Goodreads or LibraryThing! After some time, I started getting author review requests and most of them were in e-book form, so I downloaded Kindle for PC and Nook for PC after realizing I hated reading in Adobe Reader. I didn’t really like reading on my computer because I was stuck at my computer desk reading. I ended up buying a laptop after my computer crashed because I hated being stuck at my computer desk for any reason and figured it was probably time for me to own a laptop and get with the times. Then I downloaded Adobe Digital Editions for NetGalleys. Then, I became aware of Kindle Freebies and started downloaded a few and reading via laptop.
I ended up reading over half the books I needed to read on my computer. I make deadlines for myself so that I read author requests in a timely manner, but I was starting to dread my own deadlines because I didn’t want to stare at a computer screen any longer than I already do for typing and facebooking. I still read and bought regular books and started to run out of space on my bookshelf and I knew I was facing a decision: another bookshelf or an E-reader. Both cost about the same amount.
I decided that I was going to look into buying an E-reader. It was a big decision to make because there are a few out there and I’ve always been a huge customer of B&N, so I leaned towards buying a nook. The glowlight nook came out and I thought I’d probably buy one of them. I was set on buying an E-reader that had an E-ink display because I hate reading on my phone and laptop because it hurts my eyes. I realized I was doing most of my e-book browsing on Amazon and most of my e-book reading on Kindle for PC. I decided on a Kindle Touch and bought it 3 weeks ago.
My original intention was to use the E-reader for author requests and freebies and E-book only formats. I thought I’d still buy books whenever possible because I love real books so much. I guess I figured that I would enjoy real books much more and was only really purchasing an E-reader as a means to enjoy E-books a little more and not dread them so much. I never thought I’d actually buy E-books over real books and not regret the decision.
I read a few author review requests on the Kindle and enjoyed it a THOUSAND times more than I did on the computer. It was soooo nice. After those, I needed to buy 2 books for 2 of my book clubs and decided to buy them in Kindle format to test how I felt about it. I think I’ll definitely buy Kindle books more often and stop overloading my bookshelf. My strategy now is to only buy real books if I get them from the used bookstore. If I need to read a book for a club or want to read a book for pleasure, I’ll buy the Kindle book. It’s nice not to have to wait for books to be shipped to my house and it’s also nice not having to pick and choose which books to buy at one time so my amount is over 25 bucks so I can get free shipping. All these algorithms I used to have to do when buying books online, but in physical form, are over. I can just buy a book and have it instantly appear on my Kindle like magic. =)
Another perk about having the Kindle is that I bought Fifty Shades of Grey. I was able to read it in public without shame. I was also able to stick it in my archives when I was done and I don’t have to walk past my bookshelf each day and see it staring back at me. If only I could have stuck Life of Pi in my Kindle archives and forget about it… instead it sits on my shelf, all orange and terrible and reminds me that I’ve read it and taunts me. It knows I can’t give it to the used bookstore because I don’t want any unsuspecting people to pick it up. (I’ve talked about this before, but I hoard bad books because I don’t want others to come upon them by chance. If they are on my shelf, I can prevent at least that one copy from being read.)
I thought I’d regret owning books in Kindle form. It turns out that I feel more regret owning a bad book in physical form.
So there it is. I love my Kindle and I’m so glad I own one. I love that it fits in my purse and I take it so many places. I can sit outside and read in direct sunlight. I can highlight quotes I like and have them saved instead of flipping through a paperback trying to find it or having to stop reading and type the quote up on Word so I have it saved to use. I no longer have to strain my wrists to read a 900 page book (and I do that entirely too often.) It is lightweight and it doesn’t matter how long the book is, my Kindle’s weight never changes. And the most important plus is that I can totally READ and EAT at the SAME time. No more awkward page turning and trying not to get goop on my page while I’m turning it. I can hold my Kindle in one hand and chow down with the other for maximum time saving. =)
There are so many wonderful perks and I’m definitely a happy customer.
I still love real books and have not changed my mind about them, but I think the Kindle offers tons of perks which makes it a great tool to own and read on.