Comments on: The Kindle and I

By: Fiona

Fiona — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:25:20 +0000

Hi Georgina, I do share your feelings about the romance of real books and love nosing around other people’s bookshelves too. I don’t think we’ll ever lose the printed book, although they might eventually become the preserve of specialist bookshops and be sold as limited or ‘souvenir’ editions — perfect gifts for lovers and friends.

Nick, thanks for dropping by. (Your comment prompted me to download the Kindle for Mac app and it’s great. Love it.) On price however…. I wonder if I’m the only person who actually wants to pay MORE when I buy a Kindle book. I do take issue with Amazon’s determination to drive e-book prices downwards. Interesting times!

Fiona

By: Nick Le Mesurier

Nick Le Mesurier — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:08:01 +0000

Hi Fiona,

I have recently become turned on to Kindle, though I can’t afford a real one, and use the free software on my laptop instead. But that’s fine. The screen is bigger and I like the way I can enlarge the font, which I find increasingly useful these days! The highlight and notation facilities are ok, and it is easy to skip around the text once you’ve bookmarked the chapters or other bits you want to mark.

For fairly obvious reasons you can’t cut and paste bits or transfer notes to Word, which is a pity if you want to work with the texts at all. But then you can’t do that from books – it just feels to me as if I ought to be able to do so, it all being on screen. I haven’t found a satisfactory replacement for art books, with their big colour plates

There are lots of kindle books that are free or else very cheap. Everything Dickens wrote for a few pence anyone? The cheap stuff tends to be classics, and the range that is available is increasing rapidly. I downloaded Hydrotaphia by Thomas Browne for nothing and Dante’s Inferno for a quid or so – though admitedly not the latest translation. I might not have read those had I not had the kindle gear. Thoreau’s Walden is waiting in the wings alongside the complete Shakespeare including all the apocryphal plays. Together they cost about the price of a pint. And last a bit longer (though admitedly you can’t chat over one).

Kindle has opened up new reading opportunities for me, and for that I’m grateful.

By: georgina

georgina — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 09:40:16 +0000

Hey Fiona, happy new year!

I like paper books, with lovely covers and nice thick paper. You can write your name inside the cover, or an inscription to a friend, or notes in the margins. I like bookshops and going to a friend’s house and browsing the shelves. I love everything about paper books, and whilst I can see the advantages of Kindles/e-readers – especially for travelling – I just find them so unromantic. People write whole novels about books, secrets are kept in books, love affairs are conducted by passing notes hidden in slipcovers… I hate it that this is all becoming ‘old fashioned’.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:10:14 +0000

Ha, I can’t wait to read your thoughts on the Kindle. I’ll be over to your blog in a bit.

But yes bookmarks are sweet and lovely things, although (like gloves) I always seem to lose mine.

Fiona

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:20:34 +0000

Fiona! To prove I’m not a complete Luddite I’ve posted my own brief thoughts on Kindle at http://www.richardbeard.info. However, I feel I ought to defend the honour of bookmarks – a ‘simple and elegant feature of remembering the page you were on’, but more importantly, a manageable present for generations of desperate children with no idea what Dad wants from life. Better than a tie, anyway.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 10:46:44 +0000

Hi Vanessa, it’s good to hear about your Kindle experience. It certainly is a very book-like device in lots of ways. (Like you I love the fact that it remembers the page you were on – such a simple yet elegant feature!)

“As a writer, I really don’t mind how I’m read. I’m just delighted a reader gifts me their time.” That’s a very quotable quote, Vanessa!

Fiona

By: vanessa gebbie

vanessa gebbie — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:32:55 +0000

Hi Fiona
I asked for, and got, a Kindle for Christmas. I am enjoying it, so far. I like the slightly retro feel of the technology – I appreciate the lack of bells and whistles (as per the iPad) which make for simple focussed reading as opposed to being diverted by other stuff. I wonder how much the iPad will water down people’s ability to concentrate on the written word…but thats another issue. The Kindle will not do that – and its lovely to see how many are being sold –

I have downloaded several poetry collections, a few short story collections, some flash work, and a novel or two. I love the way it saves your page, so when you open the novel next time it opens where you left off, and no turning down the page corners!

I thought I’d find this a difficult thing to do. I’m the daughter of a librarian, and my house both as a child and now, is and always has been full of books. The Kindle is just another ‘book’, eminently easy to carry around. Its got a natty red cover with a light – love that! But having said all that, I doubt very very much if owning a Kindle will stop me buying paper books. I love them too much as objects.

As a writer, I really don’t mind how I’m read. I’m just delighted a reader gifts me their time.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 15:06:08 +0000

Wonderfully eloquent comments from everyone – thanks for contributing to the discussion. It’ll be so interesting to see what developments come in 2011 particularly about the printed book vs. Kindle ebooks vs. book apps for iPad. I’ve found the Kindle reading experience is closer to the printed book than the more interactive, bells-and-whistles apps for the iPad. I have some reservations about those but hey we have different devices and reading experiences to cater for every taste… And that’s definitely worth celebrating. Here’s to reading!
Fiona

By: Erika Robuck

Erika Robuck — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:54:29 +0000

I was very interested to see the mixed reviews. I admit, I do feel a little like I’m doing something wrong when I buy a Kindle book, but I ease my conscience by buying physical books, too. I have to limit myself to only buying a book on Kindle I will read immediately because it’s too easy to click, buy, and store.

Here’s what I’ve found: 1) I read more and buy more books. I buy books I wouldn’t have bought before because the lower price makes me more apt to try something new. 2) When I recommend a book to a friend with a Kindle or other ereader, they have to go buy it too. I can’t lend them my Kindle. Because of this, I feel that it might not be such a bad thing for writers. Less book lending. More buying. 3) I love traveling with the Kindle. I like how lightweight it is for reading in bed, or the way it stays flat if I read while I eat. I even have a waterproof case I bought (through M-Edge Accessories) so I can take it on the beach!

But…

I love paper books and will never stop buying them. I love the feel, smell, and interaction. I’m a page marker/dog-ear-er and miss that when I read an ebook. Even with the “Notes” feature, it’s just not the same.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that there’s room at the table for both Kindle and physical books, even within the same house.

Thanks for the mention in the post! Happy Reading!

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:42:09 +0000

I speak as an ‘early-adopter’ – a sucker for new technology. But Kindle and other e-books just seem plain wrong. I confess there is no logic.
Your blog is very persuasive and I’m sure Kindle is a very handsome piece of kit. But my emotional attachment to books is too strong.
I’ve tried really hard to think of when only a book will do. Most people mention the bath but have you tried to read a book after you’ve dropped it in water?
No, there is only one occasion when your Kindle gives way to my primitive paperback that I can see: when you’re told to turn off all electronic devices for take-off or landing, I can settle even more comfortably into the world of my real book.