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For a long time my husband (Bruno) tried to convince me to get a Kindle, which I vehemently refused because, despite not being environmental friendly, I like paper books. I like their weight, their smell, the texture of the paper, the turning of pages, the possibility to use different bookmarks…

Bruno’s arguments were that paper books use a lot of space, accumulate dust and are a heavy and bulky thing to carry especially when you move houses.

With the last part I do agree. I’ve already relocated twice here in Australia, and although books are easy to fit inside a box, you’d better spread them in different boxes so to avoid having very heavy ones that can cause injuries or collapse when lifted. On a more day-to-day basis, carrying a volume with at least 300 pages in your handbag or backpack is not the most comfortable thing (and then try to carry around for a while any book of  “A Song of Ice and Fire Series” to see if it’s good for your back/shoulders); or when you have to travel and don’t have enough space for all your stuff + a book, but then you arrive at the airport and have nothing to do or read…

So this was a good argument, but only this. In regards to dust and space, I find it very cool to have a bookcase with shelves full of books here and there in the house, and as for the dust, it’s always possible to add glass doors to the bookcase, so you can protect the books and still see all titles inside

I was also uncomfortable with the thought of reading in a “computer screen”. Portable or not, small or large, I don’t like it because my eyes get tired very easily.

And besides, is there a better place than a bookstore / library? I love to enter one and wander around checking new releases, best sellers, on-sale books, covers, summaries and everything that’s on display. Very seldom I leave a bookstore empty handed, and when that happens it’s because Bruno had to drag me out, otherwise I would spend hours (and $$$) inside. There are always good books to be found even if you are not looking for them!

But back to the main topic of this post…even though I didn’t want one, Bruno gave me a Kindle for Christmas last year. At first, I was reluctant to use it, you know, with all my beliefs and devotion to paper books, but slowly I started reading on it and I have to admit that it’s really great, and more, nowadays 95% of what I read, I read it on my Kindle. Such a big change less than a year later.

So what’s so good about Kindle? It is practical. It’s possible to carry heaps of books in it (up to 3000 depending on the model) and it’s so easy to buy books – with 3G (free of charge) you just connect to Amazon whenever you are, chose what you want and that’s it! Don’t even need to type credit card details, because it’s all already saved through your Amazon account. There are lots of free books, e-books are normally cheaper than the paper books, and the battery-life is very good (mine lasts almost 4 weeks, just need to disable the 3G if not using it). Apart from that, what really makes a difference for me is that I can carry it everywhere and the appearance stays the same – with paper books, they tend to get creased very easily inside my backpack. Also, in regards to the display, Kindle has a special technology called E Ink, that it’s basically like a paper book, so the eyes don’t hurt.

What I don’t like that much, though, is the bookmarks, but whenever you leave the book you are reading, when you go back to it, it will open where you stopped. Also, Kindle store is not my favorite. As I said before, it’s very easy to access and buy from it, and Amazon often sends emails with recommendations based on your past purchases or views, but I don’t find it very appealing as in going to a bookstore and looking around.

What I do then is: I still visit bookstores, see if there’s something interesting, and then I buy it on Kindle.

And for the bookcase to still be full, I’ll read the e-books and then buy the ones that are worth having in a paper copy.

Buy Kindle from Amazon.