For years I've been an Amazon fan. I've purchased things online since I was allowed to. I was one of the first I know to get a dedicated credit card just so I could buy things online and not worry about it. This was before PayPal, Venmo, and other sources. I was ordering online and not paying for expedited delivery. The problem with that is, I would receive a package a week or so later and have no idea what I had ordered until I opened the box. That, and if you didn't like it you were pretty much stuck with it. Returning it was a hassle, and it could also be expensive. Well, not anymore!! Wow, I just love technology even if I am not that great at using it. I did learn quickly, however, how to return things I don't want that I ordered from Amazon! Not lying, I often return them or start the return before they are delivered. I'm so so so so spoiled. I admit it.
This being my birthday month, the month of November, I tend to buy myself things and I spoil myself the entire month. I have not disappointed myself this year. I decided to buy a Kindle, but because I'm of Scottish descent, I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on it. I first went the cheap route, but then I realized why I got that particular unit so cheaply!! There's always a reason. Read the fine print. I bought a Paperwhite Gen. 7 from eBay rather than from Amazon. The seller is good, they have a 100% review status, and over 15,000 items sold. Great people. I just wasn't happy with the unit after I found out it had way fewer bells and whistles than the newer ones. Then, it hit me; I can have two. Yes, you heard me, I can have TWO separate Kindles. I will take one to work with me, and I will leave one at home. Perfect! You just can't get more satisfying than that. I know that sounds incredibly spoiled again, but why take the thing back and forth if I don't have to?
The Gen. 7 can hold about 500 books, and the All-New can hold so many more. I'm not really sure I'll ever get over 1000 books, but I can see myself adding books left and right if they're free. A lot of the old classics are exactly that; free! I can say I've paid for 11 books so far, and I have another 10-15 downloaded that didn't cost me anything. The New Testament written in Scots was $1.99 SERIOUSLY cheap! I've been reading it at work and just simply giggling because a year ago I had to search nearly every word they wrote to find out what it meant!! Today, I'm reading the book and I rarely have to look up a single word. I'm really getting the hang of it. I am getting the hang of it to the point that I'm ordering books in Scots. I'm not yet at the point where I can read and understand Scots Gaelic yet, but I'm ordering books written in that language as well, and there will be countless hours of study and research! Can't wait.
I really have no excuse as to why I haven't been reading my books in this format for years. I've been making excuses and telling myself that I prefer to hold the physical book in my two hands. That just isn't the truth (I mean, it's not a flat lie, OK)! I bought "Hearts of Midlothian" by Sir Walter Scott, and it's fairly large. I have difficulty lifting it, holding it, and reading it. Then there are those idiots who print books (and sell them to people like me who don't read the full description before wantonly ordering, only to return them later) where the font size is so small an ant would have a wee fit to read it. Ants probably don't read, but you get the gist. The last several books I ordered from Amazon before ordering the Kindle, have been written in 10-11 font and the lines between each line have been compromised. It's impossible to follow - - thank you, Kindle! I can control the size of the font, the brightness of the background, and the style of the font as well. Too cool.
So, today, while at work, I tend to have about two hours of free time and I took full advantage of it. I took the Gen. 7 to work with me, and there I am reading about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus making their way from Egypt to Nazareth, when I had to chuckle at the words before me. One of my co-workers, who is also of Scottish heritage, asked me to read it as it is written, so I did. She and I both just rolled at my attempts. I suck! I really really do suck at it, but it is such a learning experience to learn a good hearty strong language; and if it's a language your ancients knew and spoke, the better!! She then became so interested in my Kindle that she ordered one for herself too. We're going to do a book of the month thing at the office and at least six of us are willing to do it. Not all the books I will order will be in Scots, mind you, but I do want to do as many as I can. We haven't decided on a book yet to read, but we all know it has to be a murder book!! Yes, a good murder is hard to ignore.
Since I am a writer and a murder writer, I am also interested in what others have to say, and what they did in fact write. I'm constantly looking for a good place to murder someone and I think I've found it in the closes of Edinburgh. I just have to pick a good one and then go investigate. Nothing like seeing it up close and personal to get the right feel for the energy of the ink you choose to spill for the cause. A close is a type of small, often thin, brick-lined passage from Point A to Point B. There are about 60+ of them on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, and it will be one of these where the murder will take place in my book. I won't know exactly which one yet, I need to feel them, touch them, run my hands over the bricks and think about what it could have been like if this or that close is better. It'll take me a minute, a minute I can't wait to spend. I think 2023 will be profitable.
So, back to the Kindle. I thought about buying one for each and every kid in my life. I have three, but two are married, and one has two of her own. That's a few, so I asked them if they wanted one. The answers flew in with a resounding NO. What? Yeah, they're all in denial. They think they like holding books too. I did. I know I did. I totally get that, but I have hundreds of books on my shelves now, books I won't read again. Why not have them stuffed in the Cloud and not on the shelves. I have over 300 personal journals that I wrote, so they're not on Kindle, but I bet most of, or more than not, the books I've got stashed around my house, are on Kindle. What I'm going to do is go through the inventory on Kindle. If I can get the book for $0.00 I'm going to order it, and then donate the physical book that I have in my house! I've already given away "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and it's less than an inch thick. It only has 120 pages I think. Geez. "Hearts of Midlothian", as previously mentioned is substantially thicker!
That's it. I'm happy. I'm really very happy. If I could say more about the Kindle I would. I think if I had designed it I could have used a few features, but alas, no one asked me during that process what I would prefer. I'll just settle for the All-New version and read my happy little head to sleep, night after night after night.
Photo Credit: Kindle.com
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