I’ve totally changed my mind about the topic of my blog today having just read a humorous blog from Derek Haines about succumbing to the temptation of buying a Kindle. I’ve never been one to embrace new technology, which is why IT tutors at work laugh with incredulity when they hear me talk of Blogging, Tweeting and linking with Facebook. You see, in some ways I have left them behind!
Having said that I must have been one of the last people in the UK to keep my black and white portable TV oooh back in 19…… and more recently I was certainly one of the last people to have only access to four channels – or was it 5?
But a Kindle. Can you cuddle a Kindle under the covers as you disappear into another world before drifting off to sleep? Hey, can you read a Kindle in the bath with night lights dotted around and a glass of wine close by? What happens on the beach when you get sand in your Kindle? Will it scratch it or get inside the screen, like those irritating little black flies you get in the summer?
Is having a Kindle second best, a bit like watching the Chelsea Flowere Show on TV when you never quite get the full picture of the garden and want the camera to swing back at something you’ve glimpsed and want to focus on? Oh I know! I’ve been told I can now press pause or something or press the red button. Come on! We finally got a digital TV because we had to, at the 11th hour. It doesn’t mean to say I know how to use it. Having said that, I was proud of myself remembering which buttons to press in order to watch the C F Show while I was ironing just now. (talking of which did you know that over 40,000 people in Dorset alone sent TV’s to landfill sites last autumn alone!)
So, although it crossed my mind, I didn’t ask hubby for a Kindle for my birthday. Not this year. I’ll let you know if I succumb next year. How about you?
Diana Jackson's Muse, Views and Reviews 
I want a Kindle because it’ll lead to being exposed to more books, more easily, and many of those will be cheaper. If I have to read e-books, there is nothing like getting something which wont kill my eyes – and my desire to read.
That said, I dont really see the necessity or desire to get one yet. I dont know why. 😛
I understand Sakhi. With so many free books out there at just the click of a button it’s tempting. It certainly opens up awhole new world of publishing. Exciting but a little daunting. Enjoy reading, that’s the main thing:-)
I love my old paper and hard backs Diana but I am also being bought a Kindle for my birthday this year. It’ll never totally replace the genuine article, but I log so many books all over the place with me, it has it’s appeal! I’m not looking at it as permanently replacing reading a good old paperback though. I like owning the physical thing too much 🙂
I heartily agree with you Vic. I love rummaging through bookshops too! Can’t imagine a world without books and bookshops:-)
I love my Nook… But I still buy print. Nothing can replace that smell and feel. 🙂
Phew. Glad there’s another real book reader out there too albeit part time. Maybe that’s the answer to read both?
I’ve been taken over by Kindle Fascination. 😛 I snuggle my Kindle in bed before I go to sleep, reading the last few pages as my eyes drift shut. I haven’t taken my Kindle to the beach yet, simply because I don’t have an ocean near me… but one day I will and can answer your question about that. It has opened up a world of books I never would have been able to find before, including free – but still quality – e-books every week. I can lug it around with me without worrying, “What will I do when I finish this book and don’t have the next one with me?” (Boredom is not my friend… it’s a soul-sucking monster that I avoid.)
The Kindle won’t replace hard copy books, but it definitely makes it easier to read any books at all. That is what’s most important to me. 🙂
Ohhhh my resolve is weakening by each message! I’ll wait to hear the verdict about the beach. I agree that if the Kindle is getting people reading books again then it can only be a good thing. Enjoy reading!
I’ll give you my answer soon Diana! Delivery early next week.
It’ll be interesting to hear from another Kindle Sceptic! (Or is that an English pun not understood by the rest of the world)
I had a Kindle. My 10 year old daughter “borrowed” it and now sleeps with it under her pillow ever night. Is that cuddling? I’m not sure. Great post 🙂
A friend on facebook remarked that if she reads her Kindle in bed and nods off, it remembers the place she stopped reading rather than scrabbling for the page the next day. Oooh this Kindle thing is gaining more vites at the moment. My judgement is being swayed here!
Happy to report Diana that I have now had my Kindle for a month. Verdict. You can’t have it. It’s mine, mine, mine! I just love it. Easy on my old eyes, which no other screen including my iPad has managed and it’s so light to hold. So both my wife and I have one now, and she was totally anti ebooks until … Well it took her an entire 30 minutes to change her mind. Once she discovered she could carry all her work documents in PDF on it, she doubled the love affair. She travels a lot, so it has reduced the weight she has to carry.
All in all verdict? Why haven’t you got on yet? 🙂
Hey Derek
I’m beginning to waver. You are the second person in the last few days to wax lyrically about their Kindle. I’m even toying with the idea of looking into bringing out an abridged e version of Riduna. Mind you I still think i’d rather have a real book to snuggle up with at night:-)