I said I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t going to make the leap to Kindle, no matter how many people raved about it. I was going to be a traditionalist, darn it, and I was going to read real books on real paper.
But then they dropped the price to $299, and I had $300 of frivolous-expenditure birthday money in my pocket. I had that thing sitting in my Amazon cart for days, just debating if I wanted to make the leap. In the end, I was motivated by my trip to Germany. I pack light, almost obsessively so. How could I justify carrying multiple paperbacks when I could just as easily stash a Kindle in my purse? So I made the leap.
I have to say, from a travel perspective, this is the coolest thing ever. I read six books while I was away, and I know that I wouldn’t have had room for more than two dead tree books, and no place to buy others (not in English, anyway). The bookmarking feature was great for highlighting key passages for future reference.
But… (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?) it’s not a book. What did I do as soon as I returned home? I went to my favorite used bookstore and browsed the shelves, held the paper in my hand, breathed in that musty paper smell from the vintage volumes. Since returning home, I’ve read two more books — real books — and bought a handful of others. My Kindle sits on my desk atop a pile of project paperwork.
Maybe part of it is the paper vs. screen debate. Black ink on white paper is the perfect contrast. The Kindle screen, on the other hand, is gray on gray. Sharp, well-defined gray on gray, but nonetheless… gray.
So am I glad I did it? Yes and no. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Kindle will be my go-to option for travel reading. But when it comes to snuggling in bed with a good book, I vastly prefer a book.