Kindle

Now, no one loves the feel and the smell of a pulpy, sturdy new book more than I do. I've always been an advocate for reading actual paper-made books as opposed to reading stuff on the computer, or on one's iPad or iPhone. It never truly felt like a book to me if I can't clutch its physical form to my chest and sob my heart out when the heroine dies in a tragic accident. I love putting my nose to the pages and inhaling the intoxicating, woody scent of deceased trees. I love ruffling through the pages and feeling myself getting drawn into the imaginary world, the world that I held between my fingers. Most of all, I love arranging all my books neatly and obsessively on my shelves, first by genre, then by author, cross referenced with dates of publication, book-sleeve color, number of sex scenes and my general approval rating. You can't just do that with e-books.

With that being said, given my current living circumstances, I can't really afford to physically have that many books with me. I'm moving once a year, and it's just very silly to carry around tons of novels and a big bookshelf. I had always known about the existence of Kindles as portable e-book readers, but had never really gotten to know what it was. A trip around the Amazon website got me really interested - it works based on some spectacular e-ink technology, that projects words on your screen without using a back-lit LCD. As a result, each page looks just like it would on a piece of paper, except super smooth. The idea is that this wouldn't strain your eyes, unlike on a computer or an iPad, and you'd be able to read for hours on end, just like with an actual book.

As usual, when faced with an exorbitant purchase, I did what I always did. I stopped, took a deep breathe, cleared my head, then keyed in my credit card numbers with the speed and mad enthusiasm of a child on Christmas. The transaction was done before I had time to really process what was being done, and then I could sit back and safely blame it on a moment of temporary insanity. My Kindle's on it's way! I had also purchased a classy leather jacket and a gorgeous decorative skin to go with it, because since I'm already spending on it, might as well go all the way and make it fantastically decadent. The lesson here, boys and girls, is to always go all the way.

Here we have a couple of pictures of my Kindle: 

Will you look at that gorgeousness. Yeah the Kindle's pretty too.

With the jacket closed

The first book I bought on it was Tina Fey's 'Bossypants', basically a collection of stories about growing up and getting into improvisation-acting. The idea of going to school for improv seems a little funny to me, seeing how the very idea of improvising is that you're coming up with something on the spot, so how could you go to school to prepare for that? I always figured it was a talent you either possessed or didn't. I also got Betty White's 'Here We Go Again', an incredibly fascinating read by the First Lady of TV. She was basically there when TV was born, and is still going strong after 6 decades in the business. She's the pinnacle of what ever actor and actress aspires for in Hollywood - you have longevity (both in business and health), respect, and a wit so sharp that I very truly believe it inspired the phrase 'she'd cut a bitch'.

I had sprung for the version with 3G connectivity, which means that I'd be able to buy a book anywhere with 3G connection. I thought about what I'd do if I were trapped in a remote wild forest and hence would I would not be able to buy a book, and decided that my priorities at that point would probably lean towards self-grooming, in order to keep myself from turning savage. I absolutely refuse to become one of those people that just let themselves go when they think no one's judging them in the wild. But as long as I remain in civilized lands, I would have no problems if I, for whatever reason, decide that I needed to read Hemingway immediately or I'd asphyxiate from lack of culture.

Amazon's doing a Kindle-Library project, to be released later this year. I would assume that it'll allow Kindle users to download books and read them for a limited period of time, after which it'll either disappear or charge you for keeping it longer than the borrowing period. I can't wait for that, because right now I'm spending around $10 per book, and I'd really like to read for free, seeing how I've already spent so much on the Kindle itself. So hurry up with the Library thingy already!