Current good reads

It is not unusual for me to read 2 or 3 books concurrently. With a Kindle and the phone app it is even easier. The Breach by Patrick Lee is a thriller with a little sci-fi in the mix.

For my quieter mood is the book Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller. The "girls" are musical artists Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon. This book definitely deserves 4 stars.

I did not think I would like an ebook reader but Amazon's Kindle has me hooked. The Kindle is so light to hold and so easy on the eyes to read. Plus my poor aging eyes likes the ability to make the text font a little bit bigger than in print books. There are so many things I like about the Kindle (see below) but you don't even have to own one to enjoy Kindle books. You can download the free Kindle book reading app (a small program) and read a book on your computer or the newer cellphones (with data access). Since there are so many free and low cost books available you will never run out of reading material.

For example, the book I mentioned above The Breach is one I found at my local library and decided to give it a try. The paperback sells for $7.99 but it was recently offered (briefly) for $1.99 on the Kindle. So I purchased the Kindle version while on my lunch hour at work, it downloaded in less than a minute to my cell phone. I quickly found my reading spot and was able to read it on my cell phone at work. In case you were wondering I have the font set to the same size as printed in the paperback (I checked) so I have no trouble reading a book on my cell phone. When home I can open the same book on my Kindle, it finds my place and I keep reading.

Things I really like about the Kindle

1. It is lightweight. Heavy, thick books are hard to hold when reading and even harder to carry back and forth to work and when travelling.
2. It holds a lot of books. I currently have almost 500 books on my Kindle (many of them free classic books which I like to read but the older books are often too musty for me to read without sneezing).
3. It has a great battery. With the wireless signal turned on the battery lasts a week between charges. With the wireless turned off it can last a month. My cell phone barely holds a charge for a day.
4. It has a great screen. No it is not color, but most of the books I read are not printed in color. It is great to read both indoors and outdoors. The 6-inch screen is just right -- not too small and not too large.
5. It is not a touch screen. I really don't like touch screen devices. Fingerprints drive me crazy. My old Palm still has the best screen of any tech device I have ever used. You could use a stylus, your finger, a pencil eraser, your fingernail, a paper clip, etc. to operate the Palm. It was also very precise because it could use such fine precise tools. Typing on a cell phone touchscreen can be very frustrating (but Skype is definitely a must for my touchscreen cell phone).
6. It can hold more than books. I have loaded PDF knit patterns, music MP3 files, an audiobook, Kindle games, and even a couple photos on my Kindle.
7. The audio quality is quite good. It has both an option to use earphones or you can just listen thru the built-in speakers.
8. It remembers where you stopped. You can flip between books and it will remember the last place you were when you open each book. You can even insert bookmarks - that is plural, even within the same book.
9. You can look up... a word in the built-in dictionary or a phrase in Wikipedia (Please donate to Wikipedia. It is a wonderful online resource).
10. It can access the Internet with no monthly fee. This is one of the least known features of the Kindle. I have read of several people who have been travelling and used their Kindle to check email in order to avoid paying hotel fees for Internet access. And it is a lot easier to read emails on the larger 6-inch screen than on most cell phones.