Kindleitis

That's what I think I have these days, it's a new ailment but highly contagious and hard to shake off once established.

I received my Kindle 3 at the end of November and I am not sure it's been further from my person than about 4ft since then! It literally goes everywhere with me, even in the loo!

It has already seen the inside of a many handbags, slept next to me in 5 different beds on 2 different continents, flown at 30,000 feet, taken a train, taken a monorail, been to school, been for a chinese, been to see the Doctor, been through immigration, been xrayed by the TSA, been on numerous car rides, been passed around by friends and family, been photographed, been slept or stood on by Bon Bon a few times (she seems to have a thing for the texture of the leather cover!)...basically wherever I go my Kindle goes.

I am whizzing through books at an unbelievable rate of knots, in 21 days I have read 8 books and two of those books were over 700 pages long! It's just so handy, if I get a spare few minutes anywhere, I whip out my Kindle and read.

The biggest downside is I no longer want to read an 'actual' book, if it's not on my Kindle I just don't want to mess with it! I have book club reads I have acquired ahead of time and now I have to force myself to read them, or stop myself from downloading them too, that's how bad my Kindleitis has got. And remember, I was the woman who thought I'd never want one, because I loved the 'feel' of my books!

The fact I have still only spent the 99c a month on the daily Free Kindle Books blog and $10 on actual downloads isn't helping either. I now have 100 books downloaded, nearly all free and so it's not even costing me anything.

This may just be the greatest invention since sliced bread, seriously. All that's left is for me to name my Kindle and my addiction will be complete!

Any name suggestions??

(Now plodding off to bed depressed because I have to read an actual paper book for the club)

2010 Highlights

After some reflection and in no particular order, these are my memorable highlights for the year 2010

Falling in love with New Mexico, truly the 'Land of Enchantment', I'll be back regularly

 

Realising a long held dream of starting my own photography business

Which resulted in being paid to do fun stuff like this

Becoming an AMERICAN!

 

Being a screaming teen' again for one night only, with a girlfriend at Adam Lambert in OKC!

Enjoying more success than ever in photography exhibits and competitions

Being stunned by unexpected treasures one Saturday in a local exhibit (more to come on this)

Celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary with this very special man, I(L)U

Successfully tiling my own kitchen backsplash at first attempt and getting new countertops

Enjoying a monthly 'girls night out' with colleagues

Spending time back in the homeland

Receiving a Kindle and taking my reading everywhere

Coming around a bend, to be met by this view!

Spending invaluable quality time with my dad

Not bad memories for one year!

Happily proved wrong!

When Amazon launched its Kindle I was one of the purists who insisted I would never be happy reading from a machine. I am an avid reader, have been all my life and I just love books, the smell, the feel, collecting them....I could go on and on with reasons why I would never want a Kindle.

But there was one gaping hole in my argument, I always read in bed before I go to sleep and the required light would keep the Hubster from sleeping soundly. So when I saw the Kindle 3rd generation lighted cover, I could see an end to my nightly wrestling with various book lights and a better solution.

At first I downloaded the Kindle app to my PC and started reading some free books to test it out. I just found it so incredibly handy, it bookmarked where I was up to, I loved the dictionary and soon the Hubster had it on his PC too and we were both using it daily. We then looked into various ereaders available, but the Kindle was the first and by this 3rd generation the kinks have been worked out and it's widely viewed as the best. I did not want a colour screen as scientific studies have now proven the Kindle screen does not stimulate brain activity like colour does, and therefore it doesn't keep you awake late at night.

So I bit the bullet and received my Kindle in late November and was immediately hooked. I signed up for the delivery of the bestselling blog Free Kindle Books and other tips for just 99c a month and so far I have downloaded about 50 FREE books thanks to its excellent daily newsletter. To date I have only paid for one book and a few low cost games, but have numerous books to read and the free ones I have read have all been good. As a regular user of Paperbackswap.com where books are free, this had been another reason not to get a Kindle, but free Kindle books are available daily from Amazon and other sources.

The main thing I love about my Kindle is it's just so darn easy! I carry it with me everywhere, it's light (even with the cover), I never lose my page, I love the dictionary feature, you can easily read more than one book at a time, you can change the print size or even have it read the book to you, there are some great word games available to play, you can access the internet (I have the wireless version) and I can read in bed with my lighted cover.

I bought the Hubster one for Christmas and he keeps telling me how much he loves his Kindle! And as of this week we can now loan each other books to read as well. Most evenings you will now find us next to each other reading our Kindles or playing Scrabble together on them. When I took mine into work it resulted in everyone having a play with it and as a result two colleagues got them for Christmas too and are also in love.

So if you have ever been tempted by a Kindle, or even dismissed it as something you'd never want because you love your books, take it from me....if you love reading you will love a Kindle!