When it comes to modern gadgets, I’m certainly not the kind of person who buys them to be “Keeping up with the Joneses”. I tend to buy things through neccessity on grounds of practicality (for instance, I bought my Wii Fit because the gym would be too much for me in my present condition. Also, when you buy a Wii Fit you pay once as opposed to contributing a massive monthly fee to something that you may not always be able to use on a regular basis). All of the exercise programs and software comes with the Wii Fit, so you don’t have to buy any more exercise games.
I bought my Kindle and the blue leather case with the in-built light last year – and I had a reason for that too. I travel alone occasionally, to see my son, and when you travel alone by coach you need minimal luggage with minimum fuss.
You especially need minimal luggage when you walk with a stick because – essentially – you only have one arm to manage everything between coach stops.
I have always loved to read, ever since childhood. When I began school I was the only child in my class who could read and write fluently – because my mother is also a bookworm and she went out of her way to ensure that I always had more than a rudimentary grasp of the English language. I can’t draw to save my own life (and I sincerely wish I could draw at least a little), but reading, writing and history are three things that I have always been able to lap up without ever becoming bored.
As a disabled traveller I encountered many problems with transporting reading material. I am a fast reader, so – if I decide that I’m going to be reading when not with son or other family – I need large tomes and usually more than one of them. I was never able to fit all of the books I wanted into my handbag for easy access, and with no spare hand free it was alway difficult to open my suitcase to retrieve something that I wished to read.
That’s why I decided to buy my Kindle – and that is a decision I’ve never regretted.
With my Kindle I can store hundreds – even thousands (if I had thousands) – of books, and stash the device in one of my handbags. It comes with me to my hospital and dental appointments so that I have something to do if there’s a delay. I have downloaded digital copies of some of my larger books for my Kindle, since I can simply pop the Kindle in my bag rather than struggle with enormous paperbacks.
I read on my Kindle whilst travelling to my hometown with Tribble. Thanks to the light that is installed in the cover I purchased for it I can read in the dark, in tunnels, in bad weather. I can read in bed while Dom’s asleep without actually disturbing him.
If you like to read when on the move, I can’t recommend the Kindle enough. I would be utterly lost without mine.
Love mine too, it always lives in my handbag.
Mine lives next to the bed, as I often like to read on my poorly days and – unlike books – the Kindle doesn’t gather dust thanks to the cover, so my asthma isn’t kicked off
For a person with way too many books
my kindle was a godsend. Though I now
have a kindle fire – a gift from mother when
she stole my kindle – and a brother who
looks at us like we are some kind of
corporate traitors.
The book giant Barnes and Nobel -
(Don’t know if you have them in the
UK – ) Makes and sells something
called the Nook. Judging from the
looks I get when I whip out my Kindle
at one of their stores – the Nook and
the Kindle are at war. “Buy a Nook”
says my brother Eli, a decated coffie
slinger at one the afore mentioned
stores – “you get free books, discounts
free coffie! and you and I could
share books!” In short – mom gives
me a kindle as birthday present and
when Eli saw it the swearing started.
I don’t know If you’ve ever heard of
the cola wars – (Cocacola and Pepsi -
two carbonated beverages you’ll never
see sold in same establishment) But
I feel as if I am reliving them ever
time Eli touts the merits of the Nook.
In all honesty, there isen’t much of a
difference. I’m glad you enjoy your
Kindle and Hope the E-book fiasco
remains an american problem.
Haha, yes, I know all about the Kindle/Nook wars! Most of my friends prefer the Kindle, as do I, but not for any particular reason that I recall. I just like the name
I have many free books on my Kindle, including some of my childhood favourites (Little Women, The Water Babies, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland) and all sorts of other classics such as Dracula and the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe. I have The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, the Being Human Trilogy and two enormous Ken Follett tomes (the main reason I bought my Kindle – it was a Ken Follett novel that I was struggling with at the coach station that time).
My sister recieved a Kindle for Christmas and is delighted – especially since I gave her a WH Smiths gift card and she can use it on Amazon to buy books for it! I had no idea she was getting a Kindle; she had to give up drinking (and is still mourning the loss of her Vodka and Mead) as she’s been diagnosed as diabetic – so I had no clue what to buy her other than the usual Lush gift set!
Good to hear from you. Thanks for the long
reply. I recently got the greatest christmas
gift ever – a delux collector’s edition of Skyrim
for my PS3. A friend of the family, (I consider
him to be the escentric uncle I never had.)
came for a visit and brought a large black
box with him. Most of the space was taken
up by a wicked modle dragon, but the game
was in there too – and I’ve been hooked. He
gave me a call and asked if I merely wanted
to borrow Skyrim. The man is teck library.
Every device and every game known to
man fill the shelves of his two-story Country
home. He also raises his own black Angus
cattle and has a dozen fruit trees – how he
has time for it all boggels my mind.
I think I want to find a family friend like yours! On the other hand, if we had a friend like that, we’d have to buy a new house and use Tribble Towers for storage!
Nook, Kindle — it doesn’t matter. They’re both wonderful. I don’t know how I ever got along without my Nook. Oh, wait — I DO remember. I had walls full of books, which translated into boxes full of books every time I moved. Half my moving expenses involved toting those boxes around. The woman I lived with dropped broad and frequent hints about selling them to a used book store, which I eventually did — after she died, alas. (I got several thousand dollars for them.) I don’t really miss them. Now I have a surprising number of those same books stored in my Nook and can call them up with a few clicks on the touch screen. (It’s a Color Nook.) I can carry my entire library in a suitcase. Oh brave new world that has such gadgets in it! (And the woman I live with now would shoot me if I covered her beautiful walls with all those bookcases. But she has a Nook of her own.)
I agree with everything you say; my Kindle is a complete godsend. Today it saved me from complete boredom whilst waiting an hour past my alloted appointment time to see my epilepsy nurse!
My partner and I both love to read, but one look at our living room will tell you two vital things about us:
1) We have too many books
2) We need bigger bookshelves!
Very interesting post, thanks for drawing it to my attention.
It reminds me of a couple of things I forgot to mention in my ‘I love my Kindle’ blogpost. 1. I found the Kindle particularly indispensible when I had my arm in plaster due to a distal radius fracture after slipping on the ice in January last year. There is no way I could have read a conventional book then. 2. My mum, who always said how much she loved real books, has now started to read books on her Kindle because of the facility to make the font larger.
Yes, it certainly does have its advantages! My Kindle lives on my bedside table, so that it’s handy for my bed-bound days if I don’t feel like sewing or gaming, but it’s so easy to pop into my handbag so that I can read in hospital whilst waiting for my time with my epilepsy nurse, and I’m not taking enormous tomes with me to Cheltenham so I can zip up my little travel case!
I too am a practical person. I have an iPad, a gift from FD a year ago, and I love reading ebooks, having email access and internet while traveling. I recently purchased a small keyboard that travels with me, as I found the iPad’s touch keyboard a genuine hassle. I’m not a techy girl by any means, but I do love a highly functional and user-friendly gadget if it makes life easier!
Very much so. There’s nothing worse than stepping off a coach with your walking stick, struggling to put a large paperback into your suitcase and not doing a very good job… only to have a worker at the depot tell you to “Shift it”. He must have been able to see that I was struggling and that I can’t “shift” anywhere in a hurry if I wanted to!
I ordered the Kindle as soon as I returned home from my weekend. I wasn’t going to put up with that kind of humiliation and rudeness again.
I recently authored a Kindle book -
See – Enthralled: Pawn of the Necromancers.
It will be read aloud and sold as an audio music file -
but it is also available as an ebook from several sources,
including amazon -
check my last post if you want to know more -
Hope it’s available in the UK
If so please read the ebook.
(I get a higher percentage of Royalties off those
)