My First E-Book

I just finished reading my first e-book on my new kindle. I got my kindle in the mail a week ago today and I already managed to read my first book on it. For my first ebook I choose "The Girl Who Played With Fire," the second in the trilogy series (I couldn't put the first down while we were in Hawaii). The book itself was really good and there were a couple things in the plot I wasn't expecting (Mike heard me say "no way" out loud to myself as I was reading it). It was very easy to want to keep reading and see what else was going to happen.

My first impressions of using the kindle was that I was so surprised at how much the text really resembled that of reading a print book, the e-ink technology is pretty amazing and very quickly put out all of my qualms I had about "reading from a computer" versus reading from print book. This made it very easy to adapt to and easy on the eyes, it is also clear you could take the kindle outside in the summer time and have no problems reading it. At no point did I ever feel like I was reading from a screen, it was completely different from a computer. I almost preferred this aspect, it was always easy to see the screen.

I got a case with my kindle so it made balancing it really easy, it was also easy to put the kindle down whether on my lap or the sofa or rest it up to feel up my hands, versus holding a book steady and reading from the pages is more difficult. It also made it feel more like I was holding an actual book the way the case opens up like a book. These are probably my two favorite features about using the kindle.

Some things that I came to notice as I read through the book, there were times when I wanted to flip back a couple pages to refer to something earlier. This was difficult to do on the kindle, I attempted to look back a couple of times but couldn't find what I was looking for or it was too far back. Something small I did miss slightly as compared to flipping back pages in a print book it is easier to find previous pages you may be looking for. Maybe when I learn more about the features and how to search in them it will be easier.

As for the progress aspect of a book, as you're reading through a print book you can physically see the amount of pages accumulate and see how close you are to the end. I did find the progress bar on the kindle equally satisfying and kept me going. Mike would ask me how far into the book I was and it seemed like I was flying through, once I got to 80% and then 85% complete early this evening I knew I had to keep going to the end.

Overall I did really enjoy reading from the kindle and I am happy with my recent purchase. There are a couple things I missed while reading with the kindle, but I do think the pros that the kindle has to offer far out weigh the cons. The convenient portable nature and clutter reducing book shelves are certainly up there as well. Plus as soon as I finished the book I was able to go right onto amazon (I did so from the computer but I could have gone through the kindle directly too) and purchased the final book in the trilogy series and it was the instant gratification that I already have the next book in hand versus I remember having to go out to both target and borders when I was reading the Twilight series to get the  next books in the series.

Anyway, I'm off to go start the "Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest" now. I can see myself becoming addicted to this and putting a new fire to my reading habit, it feels so much more satisfying than watching tv at night!