Why I Love My Kindle

1. The word 'kindle' is a good word. Strong and then soft. And that 'l' ending is so satisfying to the tongue.

2. The pages - creamy white background and a clear black print. Like the pages in a lovely, expensive, uncut book    And they turn without a noise.

3. The way the Kindle keeps my spot. It's like an unobtrusive lady's maid - here ma'am, is your book.

4. The way I can organise my books into collections. So OCD friendly.

5. The way mistake books can be archived. Also OCD friendly.

6. The sheer availability of books. The fact that I can use a Kindle book as a reward to myself for doing horrible things, like making doctor's appointments or school lunches or getting up at 7 o'clock six mornings out of seven.

7. Having books available in all situations. Long train trip ? In my bag is a read aloud or three.

8. Cheap books. Not as inexpensive as if I lived in the US! but cheap nonetheless. And cheap books mean more books!

9. The black and white pictures of writers that it shows on a screen whilst sleeping.

10. OK. There must be a number 10. Storage. Limitless. Almost limitless. I don't have to get rid of a book in order to buy a book.


There is a downside to the Kindle and that would be Amazon. In particular, Amazon's recommendations. I've wasted spent many hours over the last few months trying to train Amazon into giving me decent recommendations. Even with the help of Amazon's Betterizer, I've failed. And trust me, it took a lot for me to use a link called the Betterizer.

I could simply not use the recommendations. But Amazon and I, we're in a relationship now. And I feel like this is an issue we need to work on. I need to come up with a new algorithim and Amazon needs to pay me in books-for-life in exchange. Easy.