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| My book on my Kindle! |
I love my Kindle.
I got it about three weeks ago, and we’ve
been inseparable ever since. Now, I don’t want this to be an advertisement for
Kindle. If you have a Kobo, Nook, Sony or any other e-book reader, just insert
the name of yours wherever I write Kindle. It’s especially satisfying since I
bought mine with the profits from the sale of Fresh Air, so if you bought my book…hey, thanks!
I love the convenience.
I pick it up and it’s full of books. Plus,
I can pick up where I left off. I have a fabulous collection of
bookmarks…somewhere. I suspect I leave bookmarks in books, including library
books, so that they slowly disappear over time. That bookmark I got from a
hotel in Istanbul, the hand-painted one from Winnipeg, the one from a defunct
bookstore---they’re all gone. So I’m usually reduced to using receipts and
those stupid inserts from magazines, but no more!
And to have something to read whenever I’m
waiting brings out my happy multi-tasker. My doctor runs 30 minutes late,
minimum. When I went last week, that wait just flew by. “What, me already?” And
then when I got into the examining room for my second wait, voilá: book to
read! Not wasting time makes me feel virtuous, even if I am reading some cheesy
freebie. It’s a book and therefore > a parenting magazine from 2010.
I love working on it.
I loaded my next book, which I have been
editing forever, onto the Kindle. It allows me to actually experience the book
as a new reader would. Currently my inner new reader is telling me that the
book is waaaaay too long. So editing is ensuing. Unfortunately I love my words,
and keep thinking I don’t want to lose the good parts. But if there’s anything
I know from reading the cheesy freebies, it’s that a good editor is worth her
weight in [insert your favourite treat
here.] And if I would just stop reading, maybe I could get that editing
done.
I love feeling like a techno-geek-leading-edger.
Seriously, I know that there is no
technology knowledge needed for an ebook reader. Open box, load Kindle, begin
reading. And I still have trouble turning pages back. But since the Kindle
Paperwhite has just arrived in Canada, I am ahead of the curve. The most
knowledgeable technology guy I know (his job involves vaguely consulting with
startups for something cool I don’t understand) doesn’t even have one yet.
Recently I gave a friend advice on her Kindle at the library. In a loud voice,
of course. And yes, it’s a big deal because I am kind of a luddite. I keep phones so long that people want to see them because they think they’re
new. “Oh, what’s that? I’ve never seen a phone like that before.”
In summary, I am very happy. There are
still a few drawbacks. I don’t have a cover yet so I use a
Ziploc bag when I take it in my purse which lowers my cool quotient. I want to
make an adorable cover myself. And I have some complaints about the cheesy
freebies I’ve been reading, but they were free, right? Finally, the Paperwhite has no
colour, so my cover looks blah on it. But overall, very happy!