The Kindle

Last week I installed the "Kindle" app for my Droid and promptly downloaded 18 books.  They are just sitting there, on my phone, waiting for me to read them.  Sometimes I feel a wave of excitement when I realize that I have 18 books just sitting in my pocket, AND that I could download virtually any book in the world in a matter of minutes.  It feels like... like I felt as a little kid when I would remember suddenly that Christmas was right around the corner.

There is something satisfying about pulling out my phone and using it as a book.  On the other hand, there is also something satisfying about flipping through the pages of a real book.  I like to smell my books as I read them, bringing the pages close and fanning them so that the air blows over my face.  I revel in the smell of the paper, the ink, and the glue that holds everything together.  I'll never be able to get that out of my phone.

I will probably buy a real Kindle just because it is larger and the screen is designed to approximate a real book more closely.  But I don't suppose that electronic readers will ever replace all of my books.  There is too much of an emotional connection there.