I entered the “dark side” on March 16th, 2011. I couldn’t help it. My husband led me to it. I know I sound a little like Eve did while talking to the Lord. But, I didn’t really mean to do it. I always said that I would be a faithful follower of the old tradition but it just happened. Do I regret it? Nope, not in the least. I have found a new appreciation for the dark side. You could say that I have embraced my paradigm shift. Yes, I’m actually learning to love it. I am an owner of a Kindle. An ebook holder is what I am now.
In all seriousness, I *always* said that I would not get a Kindle or a Nook. I had not really heard of one before Christmas 2010. I had a heated debate or ‘intense fellowship” with someone about how new fangled the ebooks were. I like tradition, I like tiny book stores. I also like the smell of books, the feeling of books in your hand. I love turning the page. I also secretly look at the back pages to get hints in the story lines. I didn’t listen to the responses of “you can make the nook have the sound of a turning page” or ‘they are so convenient”, “you can store up to 3500 books on them!”. Those arguments did not impress me at all. Until I turned 30 and had to move to Kansas, that is.
The Kindle was a birthday present from Matt for my 30th birthday. He did know about my adamant feelings or the intense fellowship that had occurred about the new fangled things. He was taking a huge risk to get one. His logic? We were moving to the middle of nowhere and books were going to be limited. I would have limited time to visit media centers. Although I haven’t been to a public library in four years, I would be even less likely to visit one in Pratt.
Let me back up. For the past four years I’ve been reading only Christian fiction from our church media center. It is a wonderful media center that is always updating and improving their selections. I would get about four books during a week. He didn’t know if any of the churches in Kansas would have a media center as well stocked as back home, or if the local library would have a good selection of Christian fiction. I have to hand it to him that was some clever thinking.
In Georgia
So far on the new fangled thing, I have 10 over thirty books. Out of all the books, I’ve only paid for the bible study book. You can get free books off of Amazon.com. I’ve also looked into being a reviewer through a company. When you read a new book, you have to write a 200 word review and then you get another free book. Sounds pretty easy, but we’ll see how it pans out.
What I like about the new fangled book holder:
- Super convenient. I can take it anywhere with me. I don’t have to carry a stack of books around or worry about overdue books or getting them back.
- Super small. I have the Kindle 3G. It is very slim and very small. It fits into my purse, so it makes taking it around really easy. It also fits inside my front pocket of my hooded sweatshirt. Very convenient. 🙂
- Free Books. I love free books. I often worry about hidden charges, but I haven’t found a catch so far. I haven’t had to go anywhere to find books. I only have to go outside to the driveway to get wireless service, then wait for the book to download. However, I can carry it in my pocket while we walk in the evenings. When I get back in, I have my new books downloaded.
- It is wireless. I can read blogs, newspapers and magazines on the new fangled thing.
What I don’t like: (some of these things could be related to operator errors and I may figure them out the longer I have it.)
- It’s electronic. Every few weeks I have to attach it to a power cord and charge it. I have to do it more often when I have the wireless turned on.
- It’s wireless. You would think that Kansas would have great cell phone coverage, wireless coverage because of being treeless. But my Kindle has a hard time finding wireless signals. I don’t know what’s going on with it. In Georgia, I had full coverage.
- It’s harder to skip to the back of the book to peek. 🙂
- Bible/Book Study: The pages are not the same as a regular book. I’m usually one to two pages off when other people are giving out page numbers of what they highlighted or liked.
The “dark side” is not that bad. Since mid June I have visited the local library twice. It has a very nice collection of christian fiction that I have not read yet. So, when I get lonely for a real book, I travel back over to the “good” side. 🙂
