Review: The Amazon Kindle

I received an Amazon Kindle from Oprah when my book club was in her audience last month. If you don't know what I am talking about, you can read the story starting here and then the day of and my thoughts after.

After the initial amazement that we received a Kindle, I was leery about whether I would like to read on it (or any eReader). I just love the heft of books and turning pages and such. I am not a true book lover in that I have to have all the books I read or keep the ones I do read in pristine condition. I am so used to carrying around a book - since I was little and got in trouble for it in school - that I wasn't sure I would want to read my books on a screen.

But as it's definitely the wave of the future, as I had one and didn't have to pay for it or my first books, I figured I wanted to try it out and give it a fair shake. Since I was way down on the list for our next LOLAs book at the library, I decided to read Midwives by Chris Bohjalian on the Kindle. You can read my review of the book here. This post is about the Kindle.

Overall I liked reading on the Kindle. It obviously took some getting used to initially. I had to figure out what size type works best for me. I found that while I am sitting on the couch and reading, I can use the smallest type choice with no problem. But when I was walking on the treadmill, I needed the second to the biggest to not get motion sick. How cool that I could have those options!

The Kindle keeps track of where you are in the book. Automatically. You can add bookmarks of places you want to go back to for one reason or another. You can also add notes to specific areas of the book (great for reviewing books or for book club discussions). My son (I allowed each kid to buy a book - anything to get them reading and enjoying) likes to highlight the line he is on when he turns it off. Even though the Kindle automatically saves his page, he wants to know exactly where on the page he was. Apparently he doesn't want to take the time to re-read anything.

You do have to push the 'next page' button more than turning pages, but after awhile you don't even notice. The nice thing is that there are two buttons for next page so no matter how you are holding the Kindle, it's easy to hit the next button. With the different type sizes, more or less text will be on the screen so I made sure that when I could, I used the smaller type so I didn't have to hit the button as often. I also had an error (not really an error where it fussed at me but not sure what else to call it) where somehow I pushed something that sent me back to the beginning of the book without bookmarking where I was. It only happened once and I can't recreate it - if I figure out what happened I will be sure to let Amazon know and update this review to include the issue.

The Kindle is wireless, downloading items quickly and quietly. It is definitely faster than even my high-speed internet on the computer. There are so many books available to read, it's amazing. But there are also newspapers (which is a big highlight for my friend Julie), some blogs and magazines. And you can send items to it via email so you can read just about anything on it.

I have no doubts I will continue reading on the Kindle. I don't believe I will read on it exclusively at this point but I can see heading that way in the future. My biggest issue is that I generally don't buy books to read. I either get them from the library or from friends. I buy less than 10 books a year for myself (10 actually seems high). So it will be a switch to buying books, even though it is cheaper to buy on the Kindle than paper books. And since I cannot give this book away when I am done, the money seems to be an issue for me right now.

I can see using this exclusively when I travel. I usually travel with lots of books and with the Kindle only being 10 ounces, that would seriously cut down on the weight in my bags and the space needed. I would have loved to take this to Hawaii in March - I took 10 books with me that week! Plus since I can have my books along with the kids books on here, it's great to slip into my purse and use as a distraction for them if needed. The only drawback for that is we only have one!

My thoughts are if you are a book buyer but not in love with bulging book shelves, the Kindle is for you. If you are tired of carrying around heavy or bulky books, this is for you. If we can convince the libraries to rent books via the eReaders, this will be for ALL of us. (Can you imagine? No waiting for a book that you want from the library? It makes me all tingly!)

I am excited to keep reading on my Kindle and see how the technology changes my reading habits over time. And to see how books and the book market changes as more folks get interested in eReaders, including the Kindle.

If you have a Kindle or other eReader, let me know what you think. I'd love to chat about it some more!

Sunday Salon: Chicago, food, and book tours

Good morning! It's Sunday, it's morning and I'm actually typing my Sunday Salon post. It's sunny outside, football previews are on tv, I'm on the couch under a blanket. And (before writing this post) I'm reading! What a wonderful fall morning!

Let's begin with the rest of the follow up from my Chicago trip this weekend. You can read my post-Oprah show from Friday afternoon. We didn't end up on camera but still had a great time. It was so interesting seeing it all. I thought Oprah didn't look well, but still she was fun and friendly. She said she was allergic to the eye makeup they put on her but I thought it was more than that. But what do I know? LOL

I haven't read much on my Kindle yet. I plan to use it this week when I read Midwives for LOLAs November book. After that, I'll be sure to give a review on it, comparing it to reading books in paper. She never did talk about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. We heard the director fellow say the book club part was going to be cut due to the cooking taking longer than planned. I still need to finish the book, having about 200 pages left to go.

After the show on Friday, we had lunch at the Grand Lux Cafe - yummy! The best part of the lunch was the Molten Chocolate cake that I had to order when I ordered my main meal - because they baked it while I ate. Yummmm! We then hung out at the hotel for a bit, taking a short nap (didn't sleep much the night before - excited, chatting), saying good-bye to a few of the ladies. We then ate dinner at a tappas-style restaurant, Quartino. Was also very yummy, even for a picky, prefers boring food person like myself.

After dinner we went to see Wicked. What a great show that is! I highly recommend it. The first couple of ensemble songs were difficult for me to understand, but after that the singing and acting was wonderful. I was teary at the end. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Saturday we had breakfast at Tempo - apparently the hottest place in Chicago to have breakfast. Was also very yummy - we had great food all weekend!

I got home around dinner time last night. My family was out watching HSM3 - kids said it was the best, hubby says first one is best. Will have to see for myself. We then watched the Buckeyes play a great game against Penn State. They lost but I am still holding my head high as a Buckeye today. They played well, Penn State was just a bit better. Great game (as opposed to the USC game or the past two national championship games)!

Today is going to be a quiet day for us. I have a review due tomorrow for The Darker Side by Cody McFadyen so I will be reading that today. I've started it after breakfast and it's already pulled me in.

The rest of my book plans for this week include finishing Edgar Sawtelle and reading The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (HUGE thanks to Miriam Parker at Hachette Books for sending it - she's my newest bff! :-). I have to pick up the 6 library books that I previously requested. I am overloaded with books to read at the moment. What a wonderful feeling but also a bit overwhelming too.

I will be posting my review of The Darker Side tomorrow (need to get back to reading). I also have a book tour stop scheduled on Wednesday for The Red Sea by E.A. Benedek. I liked that book so be sure to stop by and see my thoughts. Along with my review I'll post an interview I had with author Emily Benedek.

I hope you all have a great Sunday! I also hope you are able to get some reading in today!

What fun that was this morning!!!

It was Oprah Live, shown at 9am here in Chicago. We were in the audience with 355 other people, which was more than normal. So we were among about 100 folks who went in through the studio area. Thus we got a unique view of the back stage and the studio, including seeing what we think was the "Tom Cruise" couch up in the storage area.

We went into the main studio about 40 minutes before the show started and we sat in the second section of seats behind the cameras. When the show began, Il Divo sang Amazing Grace along with an orchestral group and a set of bagpipes. Then we got to listen to Jeff Bezo of Amazon and everyone got Oprah's latest favorite gadget - an Amazon Kindle!!!!

WOOHOO!!!

We played with the Kindle during one segment of the show and had a little class from Jeff after the show. I am so grateful to The Oprah Show for the Kindle. The Kindles were pre-loaded with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (ugh! should not have bought it - might have to give the hardcopy away). They also loaded $100 on it for us to try out and buy the first ten or so books. During the show and the class after, I downloaded The Shack and Midwives (LOLAs next book). It'll be so fun to play with the Kindle later tonight.

Then we saw three segments of cooking with Cristina Ferrare, stretching roasted chicken into three meals.

We did not ever talk about the book, though. Which was a bit disappointing as I really tried hard to get a bunch of it read this week.

But it was still a very fun experience! I am very happy to be here with my friends. Four of us are staying tonight and going to see Wicked at 8pm. I am looking forward to that as well.

I'm sure I'll tell you more when I get back tomorrow night or in the Sunday Salon.

In Oprah's Audience today!!!!

I, along with six other LOLAs**, will be in the audience of Oprah's LIVE show today! We were invited because she will be talking some about her latest book club pick, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. I am almost done with it and it's pretty good!

We heard a trailer earlier this week that Oprah will be sharing her favorite gadget with the viewers. Hopefully she loves it so much she'll also be 'sharing' it with me!!! :-)

Look for me - I will be wearing a light purple blouse.


** If you don't know what a LOLA is, click over to see what I wrote at Books on the Brain to read up on us!

The Sunday Salon: A Day Late AGAIN!!

I'm thinking this should be alternately the Sunday Salon and the Monday Salon. But Monday Salon does not flow as well, does it?

What a week it was! I went from having a quiet week last week to a crazy one! The first few days were good and 'normal' with school basketball tryouts for my girl, school, work, etc. I was able to finish The Red Sea by E.A. Benedek (very good!) for her tour stop at the end of the month. I read the next (for me) in the Molly Murphy series, In Dublin's Fair City by Rhys Bowen. I posted my review for Why the Wind Blows. And then the craziness started!

The kids had fall break this weekend, so no school on Thursday or Friday. So we decided the kids and I should go to Ohio this weekend rather than hubby coming home.(We've got to sell this house!). We packed, got the house ready for Sunday's open house, and left after lunch on Thursday, heading to my sister's.

On the way there, my friend Julie calls and says that another friend and book club member got tickets to Oprah's show next Friday (10/24). What??!!! She is supposed to talk about her latest book club book - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - and is inviting book clubs to join her. So, lots of phone calls over the next day or so trying to figure all this out. Who's going, what do we have to do, etc. Long story short, we are heading to Chicago on Thursday night, going to hang with Oprah on Friday morning, see Wicked Friday night and head home on Saturday. With a bit of shopping and sight-seeing thrown in for good measure. I am very excited!!!

Needless to say, this changed my reading choices for the week. I went out on Friday and bought the book. I've gotten through about 200 pages so far (of 562!!!) and it's pretty good. Will be interesting to see where it goes. Who's read it? What did you think? If I get to submit a question for the author (dreaming here but you never know), what should it be?

We did have a fun time at my sister's, seeing my two nephews (the little guys in the pictures), going to COSI and playing (my goofy kids are the other two pics). We also drove the kids around the suburb we are looking at moving to, but they were WAY bored with that. The highlight of that part of the weekend was stopping at the local library. My boy is obsessed with listening to Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey on cds. And while we were at the library, he found out there were cartoon movies of Odyssey! So, we have to move NOW to be able to rent those from the library. LOL My girl also enjoyed the library, exploring the reference section and the past copies of newspapers, national geographic, etc.

I'm also trying to come up with a system for tracking the books I am requesting and receiving. I have received a ton of books the past two weeks and some of them I am not quite sure who sent them. Or if there is a specific 'thing' I am supposed to be doing with them. Some of the books have a name on the packing slip that I know. But others not. Anyone else have trouble with that? How do you handle it? I am thinking I'll just start writing down when and where I request a book. Then if it shows up, then I'll have a starting place to figure out when I need to read and for what. Thoughts?

I'll keep you updated on my progress on the book and our trip throughout the week. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take cameras or cell phones to the studio - not sure how I can go without taking a picture of at least the studio, though! I am still working on that.

Oprah's Book Club - I am going!!!

One of the ladies from my LOLAs book club sent in a request last month for tickets for the book club show. We got them!!! We just got confirmed yesterday for tickets! Now, the planning - where to stay, how long to stay, what to wear! We can't take cameras with us to the studio - so how the heck am I going to get pictures???

I am on vacation these past days but had to get on my sister's computer to tell you guys. Now I've got to start reading the book - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle! I bought it yesterday.