To Kindle or not to Kindle

I love books.  The summer after my senior year in high school I worked at The Book Warehouse, boxes and boxes of cheap books. I constantly had a stack of books behind the counter that I was going to buy once I got paid.

When I first heard of the kindle and reading ‘ebooks’ I was skeptical, and pretty certain that would never be me.  But this Christmas I asked for one.  Well, I said I think I would like one.  Which was closer to the truth, I was still a little skeptical.  But it looked convenient, especially for travel.  And I always like to have a book with me because you never know when you will end up waiting long enough to want something to read.

I’ve had it for a couple months now and here are the pro’s and con’s.

What I like about the kindle: 

-It’s very portable.  I don’t have to choose which book I may be in the mood for when I leave the house.  I can take multiple books with me; with the 3G I am taking them all with me.  

-Even if I’m reading a thousand pager, like The Count of Monte Cristo, it takes up the same amount of space in my bag.  

-No one can tell what I’m reading.  I can read sappy Christian romance or War and Peace all with the same cover.

What I don’t like about the kindle: 

-No one will be impressed I am reading War and Peace instead of a sappy romance.  No one will know if my copy of a favorite classic is creased and worn.

-There is no weight of thousands of pages making an indent on my hand.  I haven’t decided if this is a pro or con.  Perhaps it belongs in both categories.

-A book doesn’t get a dead battery.  Which is especially annoying when you forget to charge it like I did today.  Sitting in a coffee shop with no book is worse than having to pick just one to bring with me.

-The question of “what are you reading?” can no longer be wordlessly answered by holding up the book.  I must interrupt my reading to answer, that is if I want to admit what I’m reading.  So here’s another pro - I can lie and say I’m reading War and Peace.

(I've never actually read War and Peace, it just sounds impressive.)

I also still have a problem buying books for the kindle.  So far I have only downloaded free books.  When my free library loan of the Fellowship of the Ring expired with two chapters left to read I couldn’t bring myself to click the ‘buy this book now’ button.  I don’t own it yet so it wouldn’t have been superfluous.  I had to check the physical book our of my physical town library from a real life librarian in order to finish those two chapters because I decided if I’m going to buy the book I want it to be a physical copy not an ‘ebook’.

I do like my kindle, and will be reading from it later today.  Once it's charged of course.