My Kindle and Me

For a confirmed 'bookaholic' I was very skeptical and I admit quite scathing about the whole Kindle or E-reader idea.
I mean who would want to read on a small electronic device when you can have a choice of the many beloved and often sought after, especially if they are out of print books by favourite authors which are on our many bookshelves.

There is nothing like picking up a cherished book, no a friend and opening up to the first page knowing what will be coming but still waiting to be captured by the print within the pages.
I love to see collections of favourite books on the shelves in our home all neatly lined up together. In my rare free times I enjoy walking along just gazing at the spines of the books knowing we have so much to offer our children in the depths of the many pages of these books.
I love being able to see the joy on our children's faces as we look for a book together as see some of the books we have read and start to reminisce about the time we read that one aloud together.

So it was a small, perhaps a large surprise to my family when I indicated that I thought I would like a Kindle.
What? How can that be? 'Why would you want a Kindle Mummy?'

A fine question and I would attempt to answer that here!
Well it all started when I was reading Wheat Belly on my computer and found that I really did not like reading a book on my computer as it tied me to one place. It really wasn't portable and frankly you can't take your computer to bed to read with you now can you?
However I was committed to reading this book on our new found journey and therefore persisted. I was at this stage investigating e-readers and talking to my friend Erin about it as she (being quicker on the uptake with technology) already had one.

As I was reading Wheat Belly I also was researching this way of eating and came across another book I was intrigued by Nourishing Traditions. Now although I had seen this I wasn't real interested in paying the price for a paperback AND having to wait for it to be delivered internationally. So I just waited.
As it turned out another friend told me you could download books for Kindle on to your computer and still be able to transfer them at a latter date to a Kindle.
Thus began the downloading on to my computer of books:  first off the Nourishing Traditions book (which I am keen to share) and then some others BUT still I was tired to the computer which I seriously don't like.

So in discussing this Autumn said she was interested too and wouldn't it be fun to get them together.........and we did.
We talked about how it would never replace reading the favourite books we own and that it would be, for me mainly a way to read those 'how to' books I love.
But it has become so much more than that!

I really love my Kindle! Yep! There it is!
I do love it. I love how I can have access to so many FREE classic books on it that I DON'T have to wait for. As soon as I 'buy' them they are instantly on the Kindle. Yes many of these classics are on our shelves but I still like to have them on the Kindle too, perhaps that is the bookaholic in me :)

I have even put other free books I have found on the Internet as well as free booklets on 'how to' etc on from my computer.
I love being able to get other free books too. I recently enjoyed a great fantasy series that I got for free and most of all I love getting access to the books immediately.

One of the best aspects of my Kindle is that I can take it with me when I run errands or have appointments. I don't have to worry about the book being bent or damaged while out and it slips easily into my backpack and I have many 'books' to choose from on the Kindle right at my fingertip
I know you all take along at least one book (or two) like me to have just in case you have a few minutes to spare and can read while you are out. In all honesty I usually take two in case I am not in the mood for the first one and I take along some hand work as well, knitting, embroidery etc, in case I don't want to read. After all a girl has to be prepared for anything doesn't she?
Come on now tell me you all  do this too? I am not alone out there and I?

So with all that is there anything I don't like?
Yes. I don't think the battery lasts as long as I thought it would.
For me and this is a purely personal one  I don't like how I can't just skip to the back few pages and see how the story ends ( I know lots of people don't read this way but I always have. I read the first few or more, find the main characters and then check to see if it is an ending I am happy with and then continue reading form the start).

I did think I would be able to buy books like All Year Round and other planning books and not have them spread all around me when planning Feast days etc, but I found that I can't get them on Kindle and even if I could I now know it would be difficult to 'flick' from one book to another easily.
So my planning books will still be 'hard copies' which I have decided I like better anyway. It is far more visual for me and that is how I plan best anyway.

So for me I am sure I will continue to buy books the old fashioned way and I will continue to buy books for my Kindle (and get free ones too).

I will live in the best of both worlds: both on paper and on screen.Life is Good!

Blessings to you and your homes,