Well that’s just funny

I was going through this blog and reading old posts, and right there, November 2, 2009 I proclaim “I don’t ever intend to own a Kindle; I just really like the feeling of a REAL book in my hands.”

Oh, things change so quickly.  Because now I DO own a Kindle, and I love it, and I would wither and die if anything ever happened to it.

Now, a Kindle is not good for some things. It’s greyscale, and pictures or graphics can turn out oddly but since I read books for grownups on it, I just care about the text being okay. And it is (unless there’s poetry). I have read more books in 3 months than I did all of last year. And that’s saying something because I’ve been working more since December (hello 70+ hour weeks!). But I carry my Kindle with me everywhere. And even though I read all day, every day for work, I don’t seem to mind reading books when I’m not working.

Also, can we just talk about the dangers of instant gratification? I can be lying in bed and click! buy a book. It’s sick. So yes, I’m probably spending more money and yes, I do miss the joy of hunting through a book store but I LOVE the fact that if I finish a book I can just move on to the next one. I was happy as hell on my recent trips that I wasn’t sorting through books according to weight or length or how much room they would take in my carry-on, or would I lose it in the car somewhere around Lafayette.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that not long after working for a digital publisher I got an e-reader. But seriously. At one point or another I’ve had to work with almost EVERY device available and . . . you start getting used to it.  And then start forming opinions. And then preferences. For instance, there was an episode of The Office, like a month ago?  Darryl went into a store and was buying an e-reader. And as soon as I saw that blue button, I knew he was buying a Kobo. And I yelled at the TV “Noooooooo, don’t do it!!!”  Because Kobo sucks. And everyone at work who had seen the same episode had the same reaction.

And now I’ve started building my own e-books. Just because I can.  I found some free software that does it and went and found my favorite story online (The Dead Isle, it’s awesome) and . . . made an e-book out of it. So now I can read it whenever I want. I think this is going to be a very handy skill.

Anyway, all this to say that so much changes in 1 1/2 years. I love how certain I was back then about never owning one of them new-fangled devices.