Love, but not the romantic kind

My book on my Kindle!

I love my Kindle.

I got it about three weeks ago, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. Now, I don’t want this to be an advertisement for Kindle. If you have a Kobo, Nook, Sony or any other e-book reader, just insert the name of yours wherever I write Kindle. It’s especially satisfying since I bought mine with the profits from the sale of Fresh Air, so if you bought my book…hey, thanks!

I love the convenience.

I pick it up and it’s full of books. Plus, I can pick up where I left off. I have a fabulous collection of bookmarks…somewhere. I suspect I leave bookmarks in books, including library books, so that they slowly disappear over time. That bookmark I got from a hotel in Istanbul, the hand-painted one from Winnipeg, the one from a defunct bookstore---they’re all gone. So I’m usually reduced to using receipts and those stupid inserts from magazines, but no more!

And to have something to read whenever I’m waiting brings out my happy multi-tasker. My doctor runs 30 minutes late, minimum. When I went last week, that wait just flew by. “What, me already?” And then when I got into the examining room for my second wait, voilá: book to read! Not wasting time makes me feel virtuous, even if I am reading some cheesy freebie. It’s a book and therefore > a parenting magazine from 2010.

I love working on it.

I loaded my next book, which I have been editing forever, onto the Kindle. It allows me to actually experience the book as a new reader would. Currently my inner new reader is telling me that the book is waaaaay too long. So editing is ensuing. Unfortunately I love my words, and keep thinking I don’t want to lose the good parts. But if there’s anything I know from reading the cheesy freebies, it’s that a good editor is worth her weight in [insert your favourite treat here.] And if I would just stop reading, maybe I could get that editing done.

I love feeling like a techno-geek-leading-edger.

Seriously, I know that there is no technology knowledge needed for an ebook reader. Open box, load Kindle, begin reading. And I still have trouble turning pages back. But since the Kindle Paperwhite has just arrived in Canada, I am ahead of the curve. The most knowledgeable technology guy I know (his job involves vaguely consulting with startups for something cool I don’t understand) doesn’t even have one yet. Recently I gave a friend advice on her Kindle at the library. In a loud voice, of course. And yes, it’s a big deal because I am kind of a luddite. I keep phones so long that people want to see them because they think they’re new. “Oh, what’s that? I’ve never seen a phone like that before.”

In summary, I am very happy. There are still a few drawbacks. I don’t have a cover yet so I use a Ziploc bag when I take it in my purse which lowers my cool quotient. I want to make an adorable cover myself. And I have some complaints about the cheesy freebies I’ve been reading, but they were free, right? Finally, the Paperwhite has no colour, so my cover looks blah on it. But overall, very happy!