The Amazon Kindle/Am I Dead?

By Sarah

Forgive me Mother Mary Alice for I have purchased an Amazon Kindle.

Look, I'm not happy about the direction books might - and I say might - be going, either. I love everything about The Book. I love the intriguing covers and typeface and font. I love the glue-and-paste smell of books, the cracking of the spine, the way a paperback looks when it's been read to death. (Gone with the Wind/Glass Castle.) A book is humanity recorded and captured in a once-living medium. I also love the thrill of stepping into a bookstore and marveling at the thousand directions my life could take depending on which book I choose as well as the camaraderie I share with my local booksellers. (Except the one where, uh, they all hate me.)

That said, my fear is the book is on the way out. Not the stories, mind you. Whether they've been told around fires or illustrated on cave walls, stories will always exist. Like John said: In the beginning was the Word...And now it is instantly downloadable with one click.

But wait...there's hope for books. Real hope.

First, you should know that the Kindle is a handheld reading device that's very light and very weird. If you live in a Sprint EVDO zone (Here's the map to find out if you do) it is possible to turn on the wireless button in the back and be instantly online to ....Amazon. Natch.

This is the genius part and in making it so easy Amazon has acknowledged, finally, that not everyone likes to tinker with Wi-Fi settings and channels, especially nerds like me who've been too busy reading to care.  Flip on the switch, wait a few seconds and that's it. I have to drive about three miles to get to an EVDO zone because I live in the mountains. But tiny Montpelier is covered, so chances are your town is, too. (Unless you live in Kansas. Big controversy there.)

When it's on, you can download thousands of books and newspapers for a fraction of the cost with no wireless fee or subscription. (The New York Times costs .45, but looks better on my computer.) It's a heady prospect, the idea of waiting in a doctor's office or in an airport and having any book at your disposal. And that, in a nutshell, is the major problem with the Kindle and why bookstores may win this war, yet.

Anyone, it seems, can get their book on Kindle. And browsing for what you want simply sucks. Yes, there are categories (Fiction - 119,000) and subcategories. (Including erotica, naturally, but not women's fiction.) Our very own Nancy Martin is prominent in mysteries - good move, Nancy. But it's no fun to look around as though one were in a store. Even "Editors' Picks" are limiting and feel canned.

In contrast, when I go into Bear Pond Books the children's bookseller knows me and my kids, knows about my son's reading difficulties. (She has one just like him.) And, so, she's recommended Bone and Gregor the Overlander and other greats. It was at Bear Pond Books where I asked the then children's bookseller for something funny to hold my daughter's interest. She held up a book and said it was the strangest thing. It had become such a phenomenon in Britain that adults were disguising it in adult jackets so they could read it, too.

The book, of course, was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Back to the Kindle. What I found myself doing was going to Amazon online at home, scrolling for books and downloading them to my computer and then to the Kindle. (BTW - Amazon stores all your purchases in cyberspace lest anything should happen to your device, like an inevitable upgraded version.)

I also found myself doing something very encouraging. As I browsed through books, I'd find one I liked, read the review and download a free sample. (Great idea, Amazon!) When I was done with all that, I debated whether to buy the book on Kindle or buy it on paper. Call me old fashioned, but the paper book was far more appealing. As a result, I went to the bookstore to buy the actual book even though it was more expensive. In other words, Amazon sold me two books - Three Cups of Tea and The Benedict Society - at Bear Pond. On Kindle, I bought Jack Handey's What I'd Say to the Martians and I Was Told There'd Be Cake. I downloaded loads of free samples, too. All of which qualify as disposable fluff I didn't care to keep.

I did not buy "Cherry the Rent Girl," one of the too many self published ebooks on Kindle. (Amazon has  been touting that big time.) Nor did I bother to examine the difference between the five different versions of Pride and Prejudice. (Ahh, the value of an expired copyright.) Jeff Bezos take note: too much unfiltered text will weigh down your beloved toy.

So, bottom line? The Kindle and all handheld devices will be ideal for "disposable" books that would end up at the school rummage sale anyway. And they're great if you're into Project Gutenberg. But not so great for the books you'll want to keep and give. Books are not CDs or albums, which look ugly in your living room. Books are beautiful. When they're on your shelves, they make a room cozy and can spark a conversation.

Not, ironically, a Kindle.

Sarah

PS. I almost forgot - this weekend I received the following email from an Alert Reader in the Midwest:

"Absolutely no offense intended, but I was at a book store today where the bookstore owner told us that Sarah Strohmeyer had suddenly passed away. If this is true, will someone respond by telling me when and how or anything. She will be sorely missed. If it is not true, I will immediately call the bookstore before anyone else is told the same thing.  Thanks."

In the words of Monty Python: "I'm not dead, yet. I think I'll go for a walk!"

Comments

[Josh]

Gee, no comments yet? Maybe we're all dead.

[michele]

I'm very relieved you're not dead, Sarah, but I want to know who is. Rumors like this don't come from nowhere. If not Sarah Strohmeyer, then Susan Sullivan, or Sadie Sellica? Somebody else's fans deserve the truth.

[Antigonos]

I live in Israel and download to my Kindle via my computer.
It's great for travelling, or when you want to sit in a cafe and not shlep a giant book(s) around.But a Kindle will NEVER replace a real book, IMO.

[Tina]

#1 Thank God you're alive!

#2 I work at a computer all day. I don't want to stare at a tiny computer screen to read my books. I just can't do it. I too love books for a million reasons. I love to share my books. You can't do that with the kindle. There are books I will read over and over. They are on bookshelves in my reading room making it look all cozy and inviting. I don't think the kindle sitting on the desk will ever look cozy. I need to make an emergency trip to the bookstore!

[Laura (in PA)]

Holy cow, Sarah. Nothing like being notified of your own death. I'm very grateful she was misinformed. I'm dying to know (oops, bad choice of words?) where that bookseller came up with it. :)

I have looked longingly at the Kindle for a while now, and I cannot decide whether I want to go there or not. Since I seem to have hurt my arm at RT carrying books (I'm going to the doctor this morning to get results of MRI), maybe it's not a bad idea. The cost is prohibitive for me right now, and I love books - the smell, the feel, the pages. Ask my daughter the first thing I did when we walked into the library at her college - took a huge, deep sniff. (Libraries smell better than bookstores - book smells need to be aged.)

Like I said before, I have trouble picturing myself curled up in bed with my Kindle. But it seems like such a fun toy...

[Janetlynn13]

I agree with Tina on both counts. But I like the alternate use you found - downloading free samples, and buying the books elsewhere. And using it to fill in time while waiting, etc.

I also heard it had a dictionary look up function as well. Is that true?

[Karen in Ohio]

Now that is just downright creepy, Sarah. Thank heavens you're here, and not of the recently demised.

I'm a fast reader, and always have trouble hauling enough books with me on long trips. The Kindle would be a nice gadget, although I'm sort of on a moratorium of buying more gadgets, at this point. We waste enough resources on electronic stuff that ends up as junk in a mere couple of years as it is. Books are so nice to lend and borrow, and they can be sold and resold almost to infinity, or until the pages fall out (like my much-read copies of the James Clavell Shogun series). And when they do finally go to that big library in the sky, books are recyclable, unlike the Kindle. I like the idea of deathless prose--anyone's--going from "dust to dust", just like we do, eventually.

Our library offers downloadable books on a multitude of titles, and I could read any number of books on my laptop. But a laptop is not nearly as portable as either a book or a Kindle. It's a conundrum.

[J.D. Rhoades]

Glad you're alive, Sarah!

My only gripe with the Kindle is it costs 400 bucks. I don't think it's going to change the way America reads until and unless they bring the price down. Until then, we're looking at 2008's version of the Segway: a supposed Next Big Thing that ends up being an expensive oddity.

All that said, my books are going to be on Kindle soon, and I hope everyone who has one downloads them :-).

[Pam aka SisterZip]

As Martk Twain said, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

Thank goodness!

[bea]

I am tempted. I didn't think I would be, but that advert on Amazon makes the Kindle seem fabulous--although I feel like an idiot for believing the marketing. I assumed that advancing the page would be via scrolling in some fashion, but the promotional stuff refers to page turning. Does it actually simulate turning a page? Amazing that such a small thing could change the way I view the process, but it does.

Hope to hear more reviews as you get to know it (during this phase of your long and healthy life.....)

[sarahS]

You can use a dictionary and I don't have to be in an EVDO zone, either. That said, there's no highlighting function so you have to type the word and then look it up - pain.

However, when you're in "the zone" - as, again, most people are, you can also go on Wikipedia and a limited Google. So let's say you're reading John Paul Sartre in the park and, amazingly, you're still awake. Suddenly, you have a burning need to know about his relationship with Simone de Beauvoir and Che Guevara. Three clicks and you're on Wikipedia.

Dusty - You have to buy one. If only for your tax write offs....

[sarahS]

You can "turn the page" and, actually, you do so really fast. It's also surprisingly easy to read, though there's no backlight. Can't quite figure the reason for that.

I don't think this will be a Segway because what the Segway assumed was that sidewalks would be clear and that women would stop carrying purses. Just pointless.

The appeal is the instant access. Read a review that morning in the NYT, gotta have the book, get it on the Kindle and start reading within minutes without ever leaving your couch.

But I predict that many people will use it solely on the train or during the commute.

[ArkansasCyndi]

I have mixed emotions about the Kindle. I do have some e-books on my computer that I've read. I think I could get used to reading on a Kindle. I don't like I'd like it as much as paper, though. But as the younger generation ages, their comfort with electronics may change a lot of our society, including reading. Technically, I supposed it's more environmentally friendly to not cut trees for the paper for books (not to mention the returns that stand the chance of being destroyed).

Glad to hear you're still around and breathing, Sarah! That must have been one strange e-mail to read.

[Nancy martin]

Sarah, I'm really tempted by the Kindle. I'm worried about internet access, though. Living in PA, with all our mountains and intermittent cell phone service in many areas, will we be able to read the book? Or can we download it into the device and read it when there's no internet service?

For a dead woman, you're pretty smart.

Now, if bookstores could just make it even easier to shop and download, I'd be a device reader in a heartbeat. But I think I'd really miss the browsing and chatting with booksellers.

Laura, didn't I tell you to put your bags of books under my table???

[Josh]

I'm sort of surprised at the high price. I would think that it's a "razor business," where they give the razor away so that you buy the blades.

I put my books under Sarah's table so that I didn't have to lug them the ten blocks back to my car and then when I waited for Harley to show up.

[Kathy Sweeney]

Sarah - that is one strange-ass rumor. Maybe someone confused you with Bubbles - who is not dead either, but is resting before her next big thing.

Don't like the Kindle. There is not enough contrast for me to read comfortably in less than excellent light. I read outside and on the couch and in the dark (not the pitch dark, but dim light). My husband has one - we got it for him so he could get news online without lugging his laptop everywhere. He's not crazy about it either, and neither are the kids.

I'm not saying that the technology is not coming - books in electronic form are absolutely part of the future of publishing - it's just not there yet, especially for $400.

[Karen in Ohio]

For $400, you could get one of these:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0287433

It has a word processor, Internet access, and lots of other little goodies, and is about the same size as the Kindle. I can't imagine why you'd want a single-purpose gadget, when you could have one that is this versatile for the same price or less.

[sarahS]

The high cost is obnoxious, but they got suckers like me, didn't they? Honestly, I bought this simply for professional reasons. Where I live, it's more of a pain than an asset. I'll probably keep it in the car and save it for those moments when I'm suddenly stuck waiting - as many mothers are.

I agree about it not being fun. I mean, they could have jazzed it up a bit, no? It's as if they're following the Gray Lady and intentionally trying to look dour.

Though I see pink, purple Kindles in the future. Plus Kindles with backlighting and Wi-Fi access for an extra fee. As well as cheaper models.

Kathy - I agree about reading in dim light. Why do we do that? I think because it lets us sink into the atmosphere.

[ramona]

I'm glad you are not dead, Sarah, although if you were, you could write as Dead Woman Blogging.

[Becky Hutchison]

I know I'm repeating myself here, but I like using my PDA for the ebooks. I considered the Kindle, but it's only in black & white now. I've decided to hold out until it becomes color, has various font sizes, highlighting colors, etc. I really love ebooks on computers, but there is one downside...it's a little too big to read in bed. But that's where the PDA comes in. It's also quite handy for games. And you have easy access to it while you wait for something or someone.

Although I still love paper books, and our local B&N is like my second home (where the cafe servers know my preferences), I like the convenience of the ebook on my PDA. (Plus I am also one for going green, and every little bit helps.)

And Karen, I just saw that little computer reviewed on Explorersweb.com (4 GB) a few days ago. Isn't that the cutest thing? Unfortunately my husband reminded me that I have trouble keeping my 40 GB computer free enough to get new info on it. So I don't think that particular item is in my future. ;-)

Oh, and Sarah welcome back to the land of the living!!!

[Harley]

Sarah, I'm ecstatic that you're alive. Although I must say, sudden death might be good for short-term book sales. Not so good for your overall career, however, so thank you for choosing life. As it were.

Last night I dreamed that Patrick Ewing died. In the dream, I wasn't 100% sure who Patrick Ewing was.

I'm hoping I can avoid the whole Kindle thing, at least until the kids start asking for them, because I cannot take one more piece of battery and/or AC adaptor computer gadget thingies whose warranties I'll have to send in and whose instruction booklets I'll have to read. Honestly, I don't want to have to learn anything more complex than a new steam iron.

[Laura (in PA)]

Lol, yes you did, Nancy, but I guess by then the damage was done. I should've whined at you earlier. I just got back from the orthopedic guy who got the results of the MRI. The official diagnosis is "It must be a muscle tear." Ah.

And correct me if I'm wrong, Sarah, but you don't need internet access to read the book on the Kindle, right? You just need it for the download part?

I dunno, I'm still tempted...

[sarahS]

Laura - no internet access required. Nor do you need a cell phone or any wireless subscription at all. They've really idiot-proofed it, though I did update the software via my computer.

If I recall, you live in an area where I bet this "Whispernet" - as it's so nauseatingly called - is available. All you would have to do is turn it on and slide the wireless button to on in order to download.

Harley - Breathe a sigh of relief. Your kids will NEVER ask for this. It is 100% adult.

[michele]

Ramona, why aren't you famous and married to Blond Bond? That Dead Woman Blogging idea is sheer brilliance. Too good to pass up! We all need to fake our own deaths and then pretend to blog from the other side. Can you IMAGINE the offers that would come pouring in?

[Debby]

Sarah, I am so glad that you are still among the living!!!

I, too, have been tempted to consider the Kindle as an alternative to hauling 14 books with me whenever I go to the shore. But, I think that I would also prefer more options included, like colors and fonts. And price. :)

Ouch, Laura! The diagnosis sure is definitive, huh. But kind of what we figured. I could have carried the books for you!