My Kindle

I got my Kindle the other day! I love it – it’s so much easier to use than the other electronic book reader I had, and not just because this one actually works.

First thing I did when I got it home was plug it in to fully charge it. That was Sunday night, and I’m still going strong without having to recharge again. Of course, it’s been off a lot. We’ll see how well it holds its charge on the planes when I’m reading it for hours at a stretch. The manual says it should last several days minimum. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it while out in camp – but perhaps I’ll be so busy with the African Wildlife and my job there that I won’t have time to worry about reading anything.

On Monday I got the manual out and read thru it with my Kindle in hand, familiarizing myself with all of its functions. As I said, it’s very easy to use. The keyboard is really small, though: I’ll have to get used to clicking on teeny tiny buttons if I want to download any new books. But honestly, it’s not that difficult. I could use a pencil eraser if I really got concerned about fat fingers.

Once I figured out how to use the thing, I went shopping! That’s one feature on this Kindle that is just the coolest thing ever: you don’t have to be at home on your computer - you can shop for books from anywhere. It’s all built in to the unit.

The price of books is really cool, too: the new releases are typically just $9.99, and some of the older releases (equivalent to paperbacks as opposed to hard bounds) can be as low as $1.00. I think I even saw some that were free – can’t beat that price.

So far I have the following books, for which I only paid $34.95 (which averages out to be $5.83 per book):

The Lost City of Z by David Grann
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Claws by Stacey Cochran
The Walk by Lee Goldberg
Origin by J.A. Konrath
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

My credit card gives me points for each dollar I spend (as I’m sure most everybody else’s credit card does). The reason I mention this is because one of the rewards available to me is a gift card to Amazon.com. I got all excited about that, and ordered one so that I could use it to buy books for my new book reader.

Unfortunately, now that I actually have the Kindle in hand, I find that my idea just isn’t going to work. There’s no way to use a gift card when downloading books directly into the thing – it just automatically gets charged to my credit card without giving any other options. I suppose I might be able to shop on-line at home and download the books later - I honestly just now thought of that and haven’t had a chance to see if that’s an option or not.

But what I’m thinking I’ll do is purchase the leather holder that’s made specifically for the reader. It’s a nice black leather thing with special clips to attach to the reader, while still allowing you access to all of its functions. It protects the screen from any scratches or dings, and even provides a mental “feel” to the reader, as if you’re holding a book rather than a screen.

There’s also an Extended Warrantee available that I probably need to get. After having gone thru that whole mess with my last one, I can definitely see the benefits to having a warrantee, and will even make sure it’s valid prior to needing to use it.

As for transporting the Kindle to the opposite side of the world, I have a pouch that fits it perfectly (even with the new leather covor). My friend Shelly made it for me a while back. She actually thought I would give it away as a gift to the Africans, but I’ve decided I’ll keep it instead. It’s made of a red tapestry material, with a red trim that turns into the strap that fits just perfectly over my shoulder. It even has a zippered pocket to hole the chords for recharging it!

Thank you, Shelly!