I love my Kindle!

 As a lifelong avid reader I debated for a long time over whether to get an e-reader or not. Initially I didn’t want to spend the money– first on the device itself, and then on books to go on it. That seemed an extravagant luxury to me, as most of the books I’ve ever read have either been from the library or picked up at a thrift store. So I just shrugged off the notion and decided I would keep reading the old-fashioned way.

About a year-and-a-half ago a friend told me that I could get a Kindle app for my computer, and that many titles were available for free, if one just knew where to look. One benefit that she pointed out was that I would have the books in my collection and could put them on an actual Kindle later, if I ever ended up getting one. I was all over that! I immediately downloaded the app and started looking for books.

After many months I realized that yes, there was definitely plenty to read on the Kindle without having to buy every title, and no, I didn’t mind reading electronically, so I finally decided it would be worth the investment. I took the plunge about 2 months ago. I decided I could fore-go a smart phone (for now, anyway). The Kindle is my carry-around device of choice. I am thoroughly enjoying and using it every day!

I’ve collected several hundred free books by now. Many of them are current. The current ones are usually available for a limited time only. A lot of them are trash. I’ve deleted those as I’ve had a chance to look at them more closely. But there are a lot of good books available, too. It’s been fun to build my collection. My Kindle fits in my purse, and it’s very cool to be able to carry around hundreds of books to choose from at any given moment. (Ain’t technology grand?)

There are a couple of websites that I watch for announcements of free books. I try to check them every day because of the limited-time offers. They are:

• Kindle Boards, Book Bazaar Forum, Free Book Finds thread
• eReader IQ, Free Books for Your Kindle

In addition to the current books, there are thousands of public-domain titles available for free all the time. I enjoy reading vintage novels on occasion so I’ve been collecting some of these as well.

Many classics, of course, by well-known authors such as:

• Louisa May Alcott
• Jane Austen
• Charles Dickens
• L.M. Montgomery
• Mark Twain

And lesser-known favorites I grew up reading such as:

• Grace Livingston Hill
• Eleanor Porter
• Gene Stratton-Porter
• Harold Bell Wright 

I also found a few more recently discovered “new to me” vintage authors:

• Isabella Alden
• James Oliver Curwood
• Elizabeth Gaskell
• EDEN Southworth

So, yeah. I think I already have more books on my Kindle than I’ll have time to read in this lifetime– because, of course, I do still also read books the old-fashioned way, too.

Next I want to get a searchable Bible to put on it to try using for church. I recently had to start wearing glasses for reading. It is a nuisance to have to be putting on and taking off my glasses to look up scriptures during the sermon. With the Kindle I can adjust the font size so I don’t have to have my glasses to read. Whether or not the search feature will work to my satisfaction remains to be seen. I don’t know if I will like it for that or not, but it’s worth a try!