Barbara's Update: October 2011:

After getting my new Kindle charged, I took it out on the patio to get acquainted with it. I was truly surprised to find that I could access the Internet with the free 3G wireless that came with the $139 model I'd ordered (the "Kindle Keyboard 3G"). And when my first eBook arrived within seconds of clicking the BUY button, I was even more surprised. Delighted, in fact.

I do my personal reading in the evening, and I will always prefer to curl up with a real book when I'm reading my favorite fiction or studying a how-to book of any kind. I expect to get the most use of my Kindle when I'm traveling,  spending time in a doctor's waiting room, or having breakfast or lunch on my patio in warm weather.

I just wish now that I'd waited until November to buy a Kindle, since that's when Amazon will launch its "Kindle Fire" model. At $199, it will offer vibrant color, access to the Internet through its "Amazon Silk" browser and built-in email app and much, much more. Get details here.

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"At some point, even print curmudgeons have to acknowledge that the ability to search for, buy, download and read a book from your chaise lounge at the pool is pretty damn cool. And the ability to take along 100 or so books when you travel is pretty nice, too." - from a blog post on TribalAuthor.com

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ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

The Nook vs. The Kindle

Iggy the Kitten Investigates the iPad (a delightful YouTube video that has been viewed by more than eight million cat lovers—clearly this is the ultimate cat toy!)

Why I Love the Kindle

by Mollie Wakeman

Introduction by Barbara Brabec, August 2011

KINDLE ADDICTION. Perhaps you think a Kindle is the last thing you want or need, but as I've been learning from conversations with friends and family, once a Kindle falls into one's hands, using it quickly becomes addictive.

My sister Mollie is a good example. She stumbled into her love affair with the Kindle when she decided to give one to her husband upon his retirement. When she had her second carpal tunnel surgery on her dominant hand and remembered the struggle of holding and turning the pages of a "real book," she asked to borrow her husband’s Kindle. After downloading a few inexpensive books and discovering a Sudoku download that enabled her to one-handedly do a daily Sudoku, she was hooked! Six books and three weeks later as the hand continued recovering, there was a problem in that the Kindle could not be pried from Mollie's hands.

On the event of their cat’s upcoming twelfth birthday, Mollie’s husband told her that he thought they ought to buy the cat a Kindle as a birthday present, and perhaps Mollie should choose the Kindle cover the cat would like, possibly pink? After all, the cat was frequently in her lap as she read on the Kindle, so maybe then she could borrow the cat’s Kindle and he could have his back.

There are 29,000+ reviews on Amazon's site for the Kindle, but just one review from a family member or close friend carries far more weight than comments from a bunch of strangers. I had been planning to buy a Kindle because I'm now in the process of updating one of my books as an eBook, but it was my sister's enthusiastic review of the Kindle below that changed my perception of how useful I might find the Kindle for personal use (even though I will always prefer to read "real" books).

Photo by Mollie Wakeman, on the beach of the Hilton Waikoloa Village

What I Especially Like about the Kindle

I like:

when I finish reading (or fall asleep reading), the Kindle will hibernate, and with a click at the bottom I am returned to the very page I was reading—no bookmark needed;

being able to look up a word in the dictionary and then return to my page;

the speed at which I can read because I can turn a page with a quick click;

the ability to make notes and highlight, enabling me to share key points of the book with others (especially for a book club). With a print book I would mark things with a small post-it note, then have to go back to the computer to make notes. Now I can highlight, add a reference word, and access it quickly during the book discussion.

I also like:

the ability to do a Sudoku puzzle (billions free online at WebSudoku.com), or just do a keyword search;

the speed at which you can download;

the portability for visits to doctor’s offices or anywhere you may have to wait;

being able to have two books going at once and easily switching from one to the other;

being able to download audio books.

In fact, I cannot find anything to dislike. At this point in my life, anything that simplifies it and creates less clutter is good. So far, I have downloaded only free or 99-cent books. As I continue reading, there will be books I want at a greater cost, but I will have the benefit of not having to store more books or return library books.

I have always loved books and have a great regard for beautifully bound books, and I treasure the many old family books in my bookcases, but I embrace this new-to-me technology. As to the future, a friend who organizes our book club suggests that libraries may be offering eBooks in the future, allowing us to download and then automatically removing them from the device after a period of time.

I wonder if perhaps in the future libraries will become more like museums where we will visit to look at and enjoy the beauty of physical books while having the benefit of technology for reading them.

TIP: If you buy a Kindle, read the descriptors carefully as the less expensive one ($114) may allow pop up advertising across the bottom of the screen. The up-front savings of about $20 (up to $50 on the more expensive version) may not be worth all the aggravation of pop ups you will experience later. Unless you want promotional offers and advertisements to distract your reading, I recommend the one for $139.

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READER FEEDBACK - (Send yours to Barbara)

"Barbara, I love my Kindle! I have had one since the very beginning, and just upgraded to the Kindle 3 for the better contrast it provides. I absolutely love that I can buy a book, read it, and not have to store it on my jammed bookshelves.

"However, it will never replace physical books for anything that I want to save and revisit . . . art books, how-to books, and the like. I use it for everything else, though. I've become legally blind due to Iritis, so the ability to enlarge the text has been a godsend. I read one or two books a week on it." - Charlene Anderson, jewelry and textile artist, writer, designer

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