Thursday 21 August 2014

My First Kindle

I always swore I would never get a Kindle. I LOVE real print books.

When my Granddad died, one of the things that I took from the house, as well as two of my Grandmother's necklaces and a trinket or two was his Kindle. It seemed appropriate to take something like that, I like books, I used to recommend books to him and he to me. I was excited to see what was on there, his last recommendations, if you will. ;(

He had a few John Grisham's and both The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I had been reading The Moonstone to Grandma when I visited 6 months before, and had recommended it. So it was lovely to see what he had been reading and that I could carry on reading his recommendations for a few months after his death.

For the past couple of weeks, my Kindle has lived in my handbag. I read Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo on it, John Green has been mentioning it for years and Nerdfighters around the world have just read it for the book club.

So lets really get down to the pros and cons.

Pros
Kindles are great for having more than one book on it. You never have a moment without a book to read, without the hefty weight of carrying a shelf around with you.

On that note; very lightweight. I hardly notice it in my cavernous handbag. chosen for it's ability to hold paperbacks - Side note: how else do you choose a hand bag? Colour, yes. Pockets & secret pockets, yes. Does it hold a paperback, absolutely.

The size is also pretty good, I can hold it in one hand, and not feel like I have to juggle too much.

My last blog mentioned the best gadgets for books, many of them were to help hold a book open with one hand or no hands! With a Kindle you can stand up and read with one hand and turn the page. Which is really useful for standing up in the tube.

Sending word documents to my kindle is a god send. As an editor, carting around great sheafs of manuscripts is just ridiculous, with a kindle I can read what ever I have on the go

Cons
Covers. I don't like that I can't see what people are reading on the train. I love the little train conversations about books and the stories both of us are reading. I also do alot of my window shopping on the train, to really get a feel of what people are reading. Not having book covers with clear titles is a huge loss of effortless publicity for the publisher.

Covers. I inherited my kindle from my Grandfather, it never left the house and was carefully put on the bedside table. The poor thing has had a baptism of fire in the depths of my handbag and has something sticky on the screen, and the paint is chipping off a little. I now have to buy one of those fetching kindle covers I see people using. But I don't really want a cover, it makes it bulkier and

Locations? What is this "locations"? Non linear, random, totally mental deviation from the page number. Very irritating. My hackles are up!

The percentage, pretty useful when talking about the book you're reading: "I'm about 37% through, shes just found the cat..." That does make things simpler than holding up the book and saying: "errrr about that far." But you can't collaborate with people.

Verdict

It is more likely that I'll use the kindle for work stuff and utilise my currently 1hr 20 min commute every day, while pleasure reading would remain a more 3D experience.I hope people continue to read on trains so I know what to read next. This is one reason why I really like @Booksundergrnd. A company, putting print books into the tube system. Check them out!

I saw the shock of the fall only last week, making it's way along the platform at Piccadilly Circus.

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