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My new love: the Kindle Paperwhite

10 January 2013

I read a lot. I probably read several books a month, most of them fiction, but some non-fiction. I almost always get my books from the St. Louis Public Library, so I don’t have a lot of book clutter, which is nice.

Recently, I purchased a Kindle Paperwhite e-reader. I bought it as a little end-of-the-year present to myself. It arrived on December 31, which means that I’ve been using it for 11 days. And I’m besotted.

Before I list the reasons I love it so, I want to mention that I’d long resisted the Kindle. My husband has one and when it arrived, it felt so flimsy and unsubstantial and, well, plastic compared with my iPad. But then I borrowed it when I took a couple of trips last year and the concept started to grow on me. I appreciated how light weight it was. I loved how I could slip it into my purse and not even notice it was there. I liked that I could carry multiple books with virtually no additional weight.

The Kindle Paperwhite is an improvement over my husband’s older Kindle in that it has a light source. And it’s a nice, even light source with adjustable brightness. Also, the screen is as big as the older one, but the device itself is smaller, thanks to the touch screen.

I’m in love with it. And here are some of the reasons.

• I can make the type big, so I don’t have to use my reading glasses.
• I don’t have to hold the book open.
• I don’t have to fiddle with a bookmark.
• It fits in my bathrobe pocket.
• I can have reading with me when I’m out and about. (I don’t even notice it when it’s in my purse.)
• I can read large books, like the biography of Steve Jobs I’m currently reading, in bed. I couldn’t do that with the hardcover library version I was reading.
• I can look up the definition of words with a touch of the screen
• My library has books available for the Kindle (though admittedly not a huge number of titles).
• Since I have Amazon Prime, I can use the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to get free books
• I can fall asleep reading and not worry about losing my place.
• The battery charge lasts a long, long time.

Several friends have asked why I’d buy a Kindle when I have an iPad. The relative lightness of the Kindle is the big difference. I found my iPad too heavy to read in bed. And since I got my iPhone, I’ve stopped carrying my iPad around with me and I don’t travel with it. (In fact, I’ve pretty much stopped using it.)

Another friend wanted to know whether I miss the experience of reading a traditional paper book. Surprisingly, the answer is no, for all the reasons listed above.

I am so tickled by this purchase I can barely stand it.

Tagged with: e-reader, kindle, technology

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