Watching: Bones
Listening to: Il Divo
Making me smile: Marshmallows (I always have a stash)
I’ve been a die-hard, obsessive reader all my life and romance is my fi
rst love. I have bookcases full of my keeper books and boxes of the ones I can’t fit on the shelves. I love the smell of books, the feel of them and the joy of losing myself in a great story.When I lived in the city, the day my favourite author released a new book, I was at the bookstore getting my copy. When I went on holidays, my husband groaned about the weight of my suitcase and all the books jammed inside.
Then my husband and I got a transfer with work back to my home country. We’re both in mining and the job was in a small, remote mining town in the Northern Territory…with no bookstore.
I panicked. No more getting books the day they came out! I’d have to order off the Internet and wait weeks for them to get to me (the barge comes to town once a week). Needless to say, there was a lot of drama-filled whining. It was this dilemma that forced me to look at electronic books and eReaders, something I vowed I would never do. Replace a book with a gadget, I think not!
I was still in denial when my husband accosted a stranger with a Kindle at an airport lounge while we were waiting for a flight and asked if we could have a look. Holding it in my hands sold me on giving it a chance.
Then something strange happened…the day I got my Kindle I fell in love.
Since the day I went electronic, I haven’t bought a single paper book. And I don’t miss them. I can carry hundreds of books on one slim device, I can order them the day they come out, I can search books and make notations. My Kindle is lighter than a book, I can change the text size on it to suit me and once I’m lost in a great story, you know what, I don’t even notice if it’s a book or an eReader I’m holding.
For Christmas I got a new Kindle2 and the love affair continues. It’s even thinner, holds more books and I love it even more than my old one. And it has international wireless!! At the airport, two minutes before my flight boards, bam, I can download the book I want.
Hubby is very happy that he inherited my old Kindle and now has one of his own. I’ve had half a dozen friends buy Kindles after looking at mine. And Kindle isn’t the only eReader out there! The Sony eReader is very popular and more and more eReaders are hitting the market.I don’t think any reader can truly decide if electronic is for them until they’ve read a book on an eReader or at least held one in their hands. For me, going electronic was the best thing this reader ever did.
Oh I hear you Anna I hear you. I was like you, never going to get an e-reader. My husband recently got offered a job in Houston Texas. So the company packed us up. I'll admit to going through some of my books and parting with some. I realised that when I got here I couldn't do the same and hubby bought me a Sony e-Reader for my birthday. I feel in love with it too. So for the same reason as you I can have lots of books but it won't weigh down the luggage or there won't be mountains to bring back home when we do come back.
ReplyDeleteI agree that until you have one, you don't know what it's like.
Great post Anna!
ReplyDeleteI love that we have the choice between print or ereader. And though I live reading from paper, I've been itching to buy an ereader for quite some time now.
My first buy after this year's conference is an ereader!! I think I spend enough hours in front of the computer without reading from it too!!
Hi Nicki --
ReplyDeleteYay, a fellow eReader convert!
Isn't it great to have your whole library on one teeny, tiny device? You never have to
give any books away and you're never caught without something to read.
Are you in Texas now? I was in Colorado for 3 years before we moved back to Australia.
Loved every minute of it and still miss the US.
Hi Mel --
ReplyDeleteYou have to get an eReader!! I'll bring my Kindle2 to conference and even let you hold it (-:
I love reading in the bath, lying on the couch and in bed...bit hard to read from a computer in those locations! Kindle works just fine (it's actually easier to hold than a book!)
I recently got an iPhone and have started reading books on it. I LOVE it - but it has drawbacks - I'd like a bigger screen and the iPhone battery runs out too fast. So while I'm a convert - I also need an eReader. I am looking at the new Cooler ebook reader.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracie --
ReplyDeleteI can see how the iPhone would be too small. I hadn't heard of the Cooler - just checked it out. Lots of pretty colours!
My Kindle battery lasts like a week - so no problems with it running out.
ARGH! No book store! Anna, I broke out in a cold sweat for you! And then I read your radical words about e-readers and how you don't miss your print books! Picture me hyperventilating! LOL
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I can see that I'm going to have to stop my stick-in-the-mud ways and try this new technology. After all, I'm doing a lot of things that were way outside my comfort zone a couple of years ago... like blogging for a start! ;)
Roll on the new stuff!
:)
Sharon
Hi Sharon --
ReplyDeleteI know it seems radical (and blaspemous!) but I swear I felt exactly the same way only 18 months ago.
Now I'm a true convert and I couldn't be happier (-:
I've had my Sony for about three years (old skool) and I love it. Doesn't replace my desire for to-hold books but certainly makes buying, keeping and reading faster, less consumptive and as enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteAnd less trees.... the big one...
Hi Nikki --
ReplyDeleteThere's one point I forgot to mention...eReaders and eBooks save trees too!
I do have to fess up to still loving walking into a bookstore. When I lived in the States, my fav thing on the weekend was to write at the coffee shop surrounded by books.
Oh, interesting perspective, Anna. I've been thinking about this e-reader revolution for a while. I get fairly bad eyestrain, so I've been reluctant to spend even more time looking at a screen (since I spend my days writing on one) but the fabulous Kiki Lon was showing me at the last conference that the e-reader is much more gentle on the eyes than a computer screen. Any thoughts on that?
ReplyDelete