I am STUNNED by my response to the Kindle -- absolutely stunned. I have fallen for this. I love it. I love to read it in bed. Something people say readers will never do. Why not? It's light. After the first day using it, it felt like a reading a book -- really. The e-ink is THAT good.
I love to travel with it. It's a JOY to travel with -- even though you have to turn it off for take-off and landing. Weirdly, I did not mind this. Read the Sky Mall Catalogue and Continental's magazine happily. I HATE those magazines. But I knew the Kindle was waiting... I cannot believe myself.
Here's how I used it while I traveled:
- I got to the airport at 4:30A and realized that I had forgotten to get Kerry Madden's book, Jesse's Mountain. I was going to meet her at the Charlotte Huck Festival, and her books had always been on my reading list, but I had forgotten to get it. Never fear! The Kindle saved me. In the airport lounge I wirelessly connected my Kindle to Amazon's store and 2 seconds later the entire book is downloaded to the Kindle. The whispernet connection is stunning. (By the way, I highly recommend any and all of Kerry Madden's books for reading on the plane -- the time whizzed by.)
- I used it every day to read the Bible. And that search feature works like the most amazing concordance you've ever used. Cool.
- I downloaded a sample chapter (free) of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, so I could more fully understand a conversation I had at the conference. Next day, I was able to dialogue a bit on the topic.
- I bought a book I have at home but didn't take with me and wanted to finish up.
- Then coming back I went into the airport bookstore, was reminded of some titles I wanted to read, and downloaded sample chapters of pretty much of all of them. That was fun! I loved reading all of those openings. Here's a few I read:
- Alice Hoffman: Don't want to read this one.
- What is the What: Wow. Just stunning. Might read that book.
- Sue Miller, The Senator's Wife: I'm intrigued...
- Mildred Armstrong, Little Heathens: Want to write a memoir or a biography without starting "Mrs. X was born in 1934" (the most overused beginning to any sort of historical piece)? She does it. Amazing. I might be reading this one too.
- Twilight: From all the comments, I expected this to be horrible. It wasn't. I didn't want to go much further reading it, but hey...
- The Book Thief: Liked it. But don't want to read that right now.
Would I spend this much money on an ebook reader? Well honestly, NO. This is a luxury. It's not necessary and I don't how long this thing will last. Will it break in a year? But it is a GREAT gift.
As an author, here's my one thought: Man, do we all want to have our books available as ebooks. I'm serious. Ask your agents to get your novels on the Kindle (and while you're at it, see if you can get them in the Sony ereader bookstore too). This thing is addictive, and it's a great way to read. (AND see my next point...)
My biggest problem as a reader (and not an author) is that it's TOO easy to buy books on the Kindle. It's too easy to buy books by accident. This is due to a combination of how the button/joy stick is designed, the fact that you have to have 1-click buying on to use the Kindle, and the fact the Amazon makes the big "BUY" button the first thing you land on when you select a book. Frankly, it's making me not want to show people b/c I'm pretty sure they'll buy a book by accident and I'll have to pay for it.
Amazon, if you're listening, at least have the curser land on "Try a Sample." That way we'll be able to show our friends. Isn't that what you want?
But otherwise, I'm convinced. The technology is here. Now the price has GOT to come down.
[Photo: my messy desk during the Charlotte Huck Festival]
February 2, 2010 
Amy Timberlake
