Real Estate and Reston, VA: My New Kindle...I think I am in Love!

Under the tree this year, Santa left me a Kindle.  I received this gift just in the nick of time as we were heading out of the country between Christmas and New Years (yeah, okay, I knew about it ahead of time--and even pre-loaded it with some pre-selected books). Fellow book-worms will understand that a weeks worth of travel, particularly if it involves Plane/Airport time, generally demands a significant number of books.  This year I was able to travel with one paperback (just in case of technical difficulties) and my Kindle--loaded with 10 books I wanted to read. I never opened the paperback.

So how did I like the Kindle?

It was great! Much easier to get used to than I expected. Since we were headed to a beach destination, I found the ease of laying on a lounge chair with the Kindle to be much better than a bulky book.  Changing pages required a quick swipe of the finger. There was little glare to speak of...these gadgets have technology that is designed to make the reading experience pretty comparable to that of reading a book. I could lay on my stomach with the Kindle flat on the ground and it stayed put--no flipping pages or awkwardly placed objects to hold it in place.

I liked that if I didn't like the book I was reading, I could quickly switch with a couple of presses of a button.

I liked the built-in dictionary. One book I started immediately used 3 words I had never seen before and I was able to quickly look them up...normally, I would just skim over them and analyze the context. This time I knew exactly what the author meant without having to guess.

I liked the fact that I never felt like I was reading from a computer. Despite the variations in look and feel, I mostly felt like I was reading a book. It took a little getting used to that the '% complete' of the book was displayed instead of the visual of how much of the book remains.  I also never realized how much I look at the cover and author information. That is all stored on-line, not on the Kindle, so without Internet access, I did not have access to that while we were overseas. Not a big deal, but it was a little bit of an adjustment. Since I could not go on line from overseas, I kept the Internet feature turned off. I have been told that helps to keep the battery charged for a very long time. Speaking of which, I have only charged it a couple of times in the past week...and I have used it a lot!

My favorite thing (very geeky, I will admit in advance) was that when I found what I thought was a typo, I was able to quickly confirm this by searching on all instances of the word and seeing that the author had, in fact, spelled it differently in every other instance! Editors, you are going to have to step up your game!

I selected to go with the larger screened Kindle (9.7" screen).  There is a smaller, and less expensive, version, too.  With either size, however, you can change the font size to a comfortable reading size.  There is also an International Version, which allows you to download books (and daily newspapers!) from overseas, but you have to get the smaller size for that functionality.  While we do travel overseas, it is not often enough to make that a necessity.

Would I recommend a Kindle? Absolutely!  I have actually suggested that my college daughter look in to whether or not she could get some of her text books on a Kindle (If you have ever sent  a kid to college you know that they cost almost as much as the tuition and you get pennies on the dollar when selling them back). There is a function that allows you to make notes and set bookmarks. It is not the same as running a highlighter over the page, but it is close enough.

I don't expect to give up my books entirely; going in to a library or bookstore almost always feels a little like the first day of school to me. I love the possibility that a new book may open a new world.  There is something about standing there flipping through books and deciding what to buy that I doubt I will ever completely give up.

I always enjoy new technology, but it doesn't always make it past the 'honeymoon period.' Based on my 1st week with my new toy, the Kindle is a keeper!

Check out the Kindle at Amazon.