2010 was the year of the e-reader. Everywhere you turned there were ads for the newest, biggest, and fanciest e-readers, with Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Nobles' Nook leading the charge.
I received an Amazon Kindle as a surprise birthday gift this August from my generous brother-in-law. Mine is the Version 3 (not with the 3 G) which features built-in wi-fi and the fabulous pearl e-ink technology. As an e-reader, it is wonderful. It has the ability to organize books into categories (or bookshelves, if you will) and can hold thousands of titles. Amazon's convenient access to the online store on the Kindle screen makes downloading books fast and simple,although not necessarily inexpensive. The screen is crystal clear and offers variable font sizes, making reading a pleasure.
As a true bibliophile, I have conflicting feelings about the Kindle. First, there is the lack of tactile sensation - there's no smell of "new book," and certainly no feel of the page under your hand or the weight of the book on your chest. It's hard to flip back to a section of the book to look for something - Kindle has a search engine but I've found it difficult to use. When you have those "ah ha" moments in a book, you want to rush back to just the right spot when you missed a clue or critical comment. With the Kindle, that is a challenge. And unlike the Nook and most other e-readers, the Kindle does not have the ability to download books from your local library. The cache of "free" books you hear about is somewhat of an urban legend; there are free books out there (particularly if they were written before the Civil War), but unless you are looking for a classic, it requires some work to find them. Most Amazon books for Kindle fall in the $9.99 to $11.99 range - similar in price to the actual book.
But on the other hand...ahhhh, the Kindle. It's lightweight, portable, and can hold as many books as I want and still fit in my bag. With an e-reader, gone are the days of hauling an actual piece of luggage filled with books for a week's vacation. One of the best features is the ability to "sample." It's like being in a virtual bookstore. You can browse and sample almost any book available, and try it for free...all from the comfort of your own home. If there is one drawback to the samples, it's that my list of books to read grows longer every day.
For now, ours is a blended family of physical books and e-books. On my Christmas list was a copy of The Distant Hours by favorite author Kate Morton. Her books are so beautifully written that I knew I wanted the lovely, dense hardback - an electronic copy simply wouldn't do. But the Kindle is loaded with lots of new stuff too, like Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas - because you can never, ever, have too many books. Happy new year!
