The Kindle Edition

Last May I had a bit of fun with CrimespreeJon and announced to the world on twitter he had just purchased his first cell phone. Replies came in that went rather like this, "Next thing you know he'll set up the indoor plumbing"

So, with head hung low I announce today that I have joined the world of Kindle. Those who know me know that for me, reading is a very tactile experience. To paraphrase a man with whom I share a birthday, "The book's the thing." And so it has always been.

It isn't that I haven't always been curious about e-readers. I remember being allowed to touch Sally Fellow's in Baltimore and liking the simplicity of the gadget. I also liked the first Nook and the first Sony readers I saw.

Two years ago my brother bought his wife a Kindle for Christmas because they have no more room in their house for books. So there's a practicality to the e-reader I understand.

None other than the great Barbara Peters perhaps defined for me what an e-reader could and would be for me. A great way to bring a lot of books on a trip but don't forget to bring a couple of "real books" in case you get stuck on the runway.

Finally, I decided I wanted one. Sure we have a desk top, a lap top, a net book, an Ipod and a smart phone with the kindle app but hey, I love gadgets. It's why we have twenty different whisks in our house.

Still, I hovered, wavered and procrastinated. Because, well, I love books. I love the paper and the binding and the text. I love that at anytime, anywhere and without a power source I can have four hours of an entirely different world at my finger tips.

The kindle arrived two weeks ago. A thoughtful gift from a thoughtful husband. I also suspect he financially justified it as I brought home my fourth pair of reading glasses in two months. You can change the text size! You can read in the dark!! I made sure I knew how to charge it, download materials and turn it on and off. I really liked turning it on and off because different pictures come up when you do.

Yesterday I read on my kindle for the first time. Up first was SERIAL by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch, because how could I not read something from Joe Konrath first. He's become synonymous with e-readers. Great story, warped guys. I cannot believe I've slept while they were awake in the next room.

Next I read THE HUNTERS from Jason Pinter. A novella interlude set between THE FURY and THE DARKNESS. This series featuring reporter Henry Parker is making a lot of noise and THE HUNTERS introduces you to Pinter's characters and series... Gives you just a taste. This might be the best use for the Kindle. Or it might be the availability of back lists for the completists amongst us.

But I suspect my third read really tells the story. I'm reading THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARK TWAIN next. The man himself might hate the idea of the kindle but a kindle weighs a whole lot less than that book.

In short, I love my kindle.

As for the tactile? I will shop very carefully for my kindle cover. I was downright giddy to find four pages of choices on Google. This may take me awhile.

Next up in the Jordan house? we might get that new gadget everyone's talking about, the radio.

Ruth