Kindle: A love story

Back in September I wrote a post about my love affair with physical books and how tempting it would be to get a Kindle. I didn't end up ordering one that night, instead it took purchasing e-books after an online seminar a couple of months ago that lead me to purchasing a Kindle. And while I was definitely excited about getting my Kindle in the mail.  (see this tweet), I still had some nagging sense that I was doing something wrong. I soon got over that feeling. You why, I've actually bought and read more books in the last 2 months than I have in the last year. Full disclosure, many of the books that I read are free, cause I still have publishing hook ups. Since I wrote an extensive post about the Kindle before I decided to do a follow up.

Since I purchased my Kindle here are the books that I have bought:

Emotional Freedom by Judith Orloff
The Sweet Life #1-6 - Francine Pascal (don't judge me)
The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner
In One Person by John Irving
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
An Unexpected Twist by Andy Borowitz (this is a short story but it counts)
Crazy Sexy Juices by Kris Carr
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta (read on my smartphone, more on that in a sec)

And I have actually read all of these with the exception of Emotional Freedom it's the most recent purchase. This is a lot of reading in a two month span, especially considering how much time I spend reading blogs, news sites, physical magazines, watching television and movies, oh and actually working and having a life in general. Currently, I am reading a galley copy of Let's Pretend It Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. (hilarious)

My experience with the Kindle has been pretty painless. I buy a book from Amazon and it there instantly, pdf versions I can just email to myself with my very own Kindle email address (neat!).  The only snag that I have come across is the Kindle is not compatible with books purchased via Google Play.  I learned that when I bought The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta and tried to send it to my Kindle.  This snafu did provide me with a different insight, it is not too bad reading on my HTC Sensation. Would it have been better on a bigger screen like a Samsung Galaxy III, Nexus 7 or iPad? Perhaps.  As an eye glass wearer I was concerned with the strain on my eyes but so far it has not proved a problem. Will I continue to read books on my phone? Probably not, just because I want to have all of the books in one place.

While I have embraced the Kindle I haven't given up on printed books.  Ramit Sethi's book I Will Teach You to be Rich, calls out to be from it's perch on top of my pile of books, and that is one I need to make a deep dive into (asap); so I think that it will be a combination of print and e-book for the time being. I know this just makes me one of the many contributors to a growing trend, but I do not fear for the future of books.  As long as the content is there will be books, just not sure in what format.

One last thing, the Kindle has also helped in my freelance work. How you say? Well, I listen to audio books before they are published which typically required me lugging around a manuscript in addition to the discs or if I was lucky mp3's that I put on my iPod.  So now, I try to get the manuscripts via pdf and send them to my Kindle.  All this makes for a much more mobile existence.  This weekend I went to the beach and was still able to get my work done and no pages lost to the sand, wind or water. Success all around.