My new Kindle (and other thoughts on books)

It's been ages since I posted last. I just sort of forgot I had a blog for a while... then when I remembered, the only thing I could think of writing about was the farm. It's a busy time of year for us - lambs arriving, shearing, new fence going up, selling/trading sheep... between the farm and my two other jobs, my life is pretty exclusively filled with work right now. And who wants to blog about work!?


Last week was my birthday. A rather uneventful day, I worked a twelve hour day (see what I mean?) and went home alone, my husband still attentively dedicated to the sheep (I love having the house to myself but after a month or so it's great to have him finally home!). Last Friday, despite being rather ill with a nasty cold, I celebrated said birthday with my in-laws, who very thoughtfully purchased me a Kindle. It's something I never would have invested in for myself. I've had my nose stuck in that thing for three days straight now, every possible extra second I have (which aren't many). Here's my preliminary review:


Why I like a real book better:
1. I can literally drop it on pavement and then pick it back up and read it without feeling like my world may have ended.
2. When I turn the page and see the end of the chapter (and the beginning of the next one) I can quickly slam the book shut and force myself to walk away and get some work done. With the Kindle, by the time I hold the power button for 7 seconds to make the screen go blank, I've already let my eyes stray to the next chapter, and I'm hooked. Oh how I hate those seven seconds.
3. If the industrialized world as we know it ends and our electrical grid fails, I can still read a real book.
4. I can lend a real book to as many friends as I want, and they can keep it as long as they want. 




Why I like the Kindle better:
1. If I want to start a new book, I just type in the name and choose "download" and I have it in less than 60 seconds. No more waiting to find a day when I can drive an hour and a half to the nearest book store. 
2. I can put this thin, sleek book in my purse, and have enough reading material for an entire vacation. No more choosing which three or four books to bring along with me and finding space for them, just to decide half way through my vacation I brought the wrong ones.
3. The books cost less.
4. I can read the first chapter or two of a book for free to see if I'm going to like it. I suppose I could go to the bookstore and do this... but I'd spend days in the bookstore reading the first chapter of every book I saw, and I'd never settle on any of them. With the Kindle, I can take the samples with me wherever I go, and read them as I have time.


So after all that, I'm really happy with my Kindle, and it's given me a small escape from my hectic work life. Even if I have only five free minutes, I can slip away to Australia and follow 19 year old Ed Kennedy as he thwarts a bank robbery rather by accident (I Am the Messenger) or try to understand a world quite unlike our own in A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, or learn the truth about Abraham Lincoln - the Vampire Slayer. 
I'm thinking though, that I might go out and buy one last "real" book.... just in case that Zombie Apocalypse ever happens. 


While I'm on the topic of books, I have something else I'd like to put out there. I seem to have found a hangup of mine I wasn't fully aware of before now:
I cannot (seriously, can't imagine trying to force myself) both read the book AND see the movie. I first started to become aware of this after reading The Time Travelers Wife. Shortly after finishing the book, I saw a movie preview. It looked great, then I heard the title. 'Oh no... they made it into a movie!?!?' I decided not to go see it. The book was hard to read at first, but after starting it a few times and sticking with it, I enjoyed having read it. I couldn't imagine the movie holding up. So I opted out. 
But now I've come across a real dilemma... The Hunger Games. A trilogy. Everyone's talking about them. I saw the first movie preview and wanted to go see it... but then I found out it's a book series. And everyone is RAVING about the books. And suddenly I realized it... I have a deep seated need to choose between the two. Not like a "will I read the books first or watch the movies first?" or a "gee I wonder which is better"... it's this voice in my head saying "Make the right choice... you're going to miss out on one of the two, make sure you don't regret it". And I'm paralyzed. The books are at the top of my reading wish list, but I can't bring myself to purchase them... what if I want to go see the movies? It's tearing me apart... and I have no idea why. Why can't I just do both?? Compare them? It'll be a great discussion topic. But no... choose I must. 


I'd like to say just one last thing on the topic of books - if my childhood best friend Laura Brautigam's (now Laura Lee Anderson) book isn't published and made available on my Kindle, I'm going to throw a fit. A two-year-old-in-a-super-market-who-can't-have-cookies fit.


That's my life!