Merry Christmas to Me

I suppose it's the ultimate skew of the true meaning of Christmas; buying a gift for yourself. Ah well, I'm still thrilled with my new Kindle 3G [3rd generation]. (-: It came today, right on schedule for the overnight delivery. Should I have paid an extra $20 for overnight delivery? Well, probably not. But I got a $30 break by signing up for the Amazon Visa card, so it averages out to a $10 savings still!

I already read Beauty and the Beast. Did you know Beauty had two sisters and three brothers? If I wrote the story I would have left out the brothers, because they played a very insignificant role and were barely in the story. Maybe it's my theatre background that causes me to shy away from unimportant characters; sometimes the only thing worse than not being cast is being cast for a needless role. However, much of the story was similar to the Disney re-make and I enjoyed it just as much. Right now I'm working on "The Lilac Fairy Book", which is apparently part of a collection of twelve fairy tales that someone collected. No actual fairies so far, but that's okay.

I'm going through and downloading all of the free books I'd found and added. Something like 38 of them, from classic novels to philosophy and even a new book that happened to be free. I'm excited at how easy I imagine it will be to get lots of reading done, if I can just pick it up for a few minutes at a time so easily. Of course, it's also great for long periods of reading, like I hope to get in next week while I'm out of state.

One nice thing about the Kindle is that you can add mp3s. Granted there isn't much of an mp3 player; you can pause or skip songs and that's it. It doesn't even tell you what song you're on. However, it's still kind of a nice addition.

What is one book you've always wanted to read but never gotten around to?

Kindle, Kindling, Kindlicious

I will soon be ordering a Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi (Third edition; latest model) and I am so excited. The thought of having so many books with me all the time just waiting for me to have a few seconds to look through their pages... ah, I can't wait. I already have a "stack" of free e-books waiting to be downloaded. Philosophy, novels, poetry, fairy tales, classics. There are so many free books, and of course many others for low costs. The Kindle can even play music; I can't wait to listen to the Jekyll and Hyde soundtrack while reading the novel!

The third generation Kindle uses Pearl e-ink, which has much better contrast than the original technology. More contrast means even less eye strain on an already gentle screen. The e-ink screen means the text can be viewed from any angle and under direct sunlight, just like a book page. Also like a book page, it requires a reading lamp under low-light conditions. I, for one, would much rather read something that is similar to a book and have to use a lamp than be looking at some variation of a computer screen. We get enough computer screens in our everyday lives; I can't wait to be able to give myself a break yet keep the convenience of technology.

Between wi-fi and the 3G network, I will be able to use my Kindle's limited internet capabilities to do simple tasks anywhere at any time. It will not replace a laptop; I already have one of those! But when I need to know the showtimes for a movie, want to read the online newspaper for the day, or just have to know who that actor is in the movie I saw, this little beauty will come in handy. I've already experimented a little bit with my mom's Kindle and I think I will really be able to use this feature.


Does anyone else out there have an e-reader? Comment with your thoughts on e-readers, Kindle vs. Nook, Black Friday deals, or anything else on the topic!