A Literate Addiction

Several months ago, I blogged about my passing desire to own an Amazon Kindle. This e-reader would allow me to download books to a portable device no matter where I was in the world. It would, I was certain, not only save me money in the long run, but would also make me a happier, saner person. After all, I love books and this would allow me to purchase them in an economical fashion yet at a rate that would not exceed a generous book budget negotiated between Hubby and me.

This lightweight device can hold up to 1,500 books, which is no small matter when you move around as much as I do. Kindles also come with several really cool features like the built in dictionary for those times when you know you aren’t going to “look it up later” and the ability to change the font size of the book you’re reading, making it a great tool for semi-blind people like me and, conversely, those who prefer smaller text with fewer page turns.

Meet Betty, my beautiful Kindle whom I adore. She is a member of the family who requires a lot of personal attention and must be cared for, snuggled, and fed books on a regular basis. She doesn’t like it when I go too many days without purchasing new material or too many hours without reading a new tale with her. She’s my baby and I love her.

Hubby is under the mistaken impression that I have “an addiction.” Just because I spent more than 12 hours on the Kindle chat boards when she arrived doesn’t make me addicted. Buying her original cost in books in three short months doesn’t make me addicted either. Nor does reading 43 books in three months – more than three times my normal rate.

Best of all, Betty allows me to buy only those DTBs (dead tree books) that I truly love. Normally, every time we move I have an enormous stack of books to donate to local charities or libraries. Thanks to Betty, as I explained to Hubby, I could read the electronic version of the trash that I would normally donate and only purchase in hardcopy those books that had truly captured my imagination. When he pointed out this was effectively buying the same book twice, I told him he was being narrow-minded. Betty understands my love of books means that some reading experiences deserve the real thing.

I’m not addicted to Betty! I love her and she loves me. Why else would she bookmark the page where I fell asleep reading, or read aloud to me when I’m bored? I can stop reading e-books anytime I want to – I just don’t want to.

Now I have to sign off here because Betty says I have spent too much time on Blogger today and need to pay more attention to her. Isn’t it sweet of her to keep track of things like that for me?