I have been wanting to write about my Kindle ever since I got it two years ago; the following is how the Kindle and I feel about each other.
I absolutely love my Kindle! I thought that as a bibliophile, I will hate any e-reader but I can’t find any fault with this quiet, light, patient, non-demanding, treasure chest of a library that goes from my purse to my bed table and travels everywhere with me from a crowded café in Paris to my quiet bed table.
It lets me highlight any passage in the book which I can print later; I don’t even have to open a dictionary to see the meaning of a word – my kindle whispers it in my eyes…My sneaky Kindle lets me read a sampler of the books I am interested in and only then gently pushes me into making money for Amazon…
Now it’s my Kindle’s turn to talk about me:
Hello, my name is Kindle Bezos and I am to tell you how my mommy, Michele loves me. I am a spoiled, pampered, well loved little gadget; Michele lost my brother but she bought me one day later. She loves me and my dad, Jeff!
*She hugs me and kisses me to make the world jealous…
*She loves it that I am not a battery vampire like her iPad .
*She learned my instructions quickly (I am easy) and she types on me with patience and she talks to me often in 3 languages!
*She loves it that I can communicate easily with the mothership and get her almost any book her little heart desires; she likes the good deals I broker for her and I am working on showing her my French side (no luck on any Persian titles showing up on my screen soon!)
*She takes care of me – I even have a great polka dotted cover! She downloads almost everything I suggest to her (Papa Jeff will be happy with me if I succeed to make her read the New York Times on me!)
I don’t like it when:
a) She highlights long passages (sometimes I want to shout so she stops before underlining the whole damned book).
b) She stops often for a word’s definition (I am expecting that from my foreign owners; they always exhaust me with the dictionary…)
All this said, nothing comes close to a real library which I had in a previous life:
Those old friends are sitting in a storage room in Los Angeles and waiting for me to go and rescue them!
I love my Kindle but in defense of books, watch this very funny clip here.
The best commercial for Kindle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hg7bYEZ6e8&NR=1
I love mine, too, Michele. For all the same reasons you do.
AJG
The Saint of Florenville: A Love Story
(on Kindle)
For the reasons you mention (and they are obvious, thinking of the place saved in an apartment, the ability to be the perfect companion as is our mobile phone, or our keyring) I agree.
However, don’t you miss the touch of the paper, your fingers turning the pages, caressing the paper to feel either the quality, or how it is thin and almost transparent, or like parchment, or sewn pages not falling apart, or, you name it…
I have never experienced a kindle, I should and maybe I will, only god knows when.
Whether it is a “kindle” or a true book (deligthful spanish video btw )…I will never get rid of my passion for reading.
Thank you for this once more, and sorry for not being present as much as I would.
marie
Aahh! not Oh! good old days – I loved your book shelves – but it’s good you are in Paris. The book ad was funny and true.
Beautiful & Poetic Thoughts for Kindle — However Books are living and Kindle is sterile & Non Living —
“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.”
― Stephen Fry
The Books are to a extent raison d’etre , wherein Kindle, I reckon is a convenience compromise – Its the same reason that you took us to Shakespeare & Co in Paris to spend time and not to FNAC & Darty’s –