Who knew I would break down and buy a Kindle–me, with a study full of floor-to-ceiling bookcases?  Well, actually, that first part is not quite right.  Dan bought it for me, after lugging around my 15-20 extra pounds of books in our luggage whenever we go on trips.

The Kindle 2 came in the mail this week.  I woke up early this morning to read the Kindle’s User’s Guide and am amazed at the number of functions it can perform–namely, all the things I do when I read a book, like bookmarking or highlighting sections.  It even has the capability to jot notes within the text, and all these things can be saved to your computer (and, of course, the Amazon site, where everything is backed up for you).  You can move the cursor over difficult vocabulary words, and the dictionary gives you the definition at the bottom of the page.  How’s that for ease?

To go to the next page, you hit Next Page on the right-side of the unit.

To return to the previous page, hit Previous Page on the left-hand side.

Since the Kindle is a wireless gadget, you can search the web at any time.  Just start typing on the keypad at the bottom of the Kindle, and a search bar will come up.  You can search Amazon, Wikipedia, Google–it’s all right there, as fast as your wireless service!

The Kindle is light.  It’s thin.  It’s easy to use.  I’m in heaven!

Except that I miss the feel of a book–the paper, the heft, the beauty.  Although this Kindle 2 is another sort of beauty (which I’m in awe of, by the way).  Even the packaging reminded me of what Steve Jobs did for the iPhone.  Everything was first-rate.

Right now, I’ll be using the Kindle for travel and for things I can read on the go (can you say magazines?  newspapers?  blogs?), but I can easily see it calling out for me, in between times, and that will take some getting used to.  Or not.  Perhaps I’ll have to succumb and spend days reading new books, telling Dan and little L. that they must fend for themselves now.