Woke up early to another misty morning, and decided to take the camera for a walk into town - for once with no other purpose than just walking and taking photos, as the shops weren’t open yet… The fog lay heavy today and refused to let the sun through, but I still managed a few spiderweb shots on the railings down by the river – with water reflections in the background.
Linking to James’s Weekend Reflections and wishing him Happy Anniversaries.
I suspect that most international readers of this blog already know what a Kindle looks like, but all of you might not be familiar with the EcoFlip cover, which I bought with it. I really find this to be an excellent accessory to the Kindle itself. (Click the link to see a demonstration video.)
There are lots of various covers you can buy to protect your Kindle and/or make it look and feel more like you’re holding a real book… But this one I find really clever; especially for anyone with difficulties holding things/books for too long.
Instead of opening sideways like a book, the EcoFlip flips open the other way, like this:
And then you can fold it back and either stick your hand into the pocket on the back to get a steady grip…
… or you just let it stand on its own.
So here I am, sitting in my comfy chair, with the Kindle standing on a pillow on my lap. And all I have to do to turn the page or access menus is to tap the screen.
One thing I really LOVE about the Kindle is the built-in dictionary!
By now some of you are probably wondering: What on earth is she reading?! To tell the truth, I’m not quite sure. It’s a free book I happened to find quite randomly when browsing the fantasy section: Homes for Gnomes by Stewart Thompson (never heard of him). A contemporary British satiric fantasy novel on the borderline between funny and crude. I got drawn into it… but I haven’t really got a clue yet where the story will be going in the end. I think I’ll wait with the review until I do!
I haven’t had all that much time to just sit and read since I got the Kindle (yesterday!), but I’m already beginning to think that I’m going to find it easier to read on the Kindle than on paper. Being able to adjust the font and size really is a major advantage when one has neck- and eye problems. I won’t have to give up on books because of small print. I also find the gray background quite restful with regard to my PVD (and should perhaps be grateful I did not get the new Kindle Paperwhite?).
I put in my order to Amazon late on Monday evening, see My Amazon Adventures. Yesterday I got an email that the order had been shipped, with expected delivery Friday. Today, Thursday, at 1.30 pm, there was a knock on my door, and when I opened, there was a delivery man with a package. (I had totally counted on having to go to the post-office/supermarket to pick it up, which is the usual procedure when I’ve ordered something.) Now that I call a nice surprise on a rainy day!
So my Kindle is here, and seems to be working just fine. Not that I’ve had time to check out every detail yet, but I’ve connected it to the Wifi and it responded by immediately downloading the free books I’d already ordered for it. I’m feeding it electricity just now; and before I do anything else I think I’d better go feed myself too (haven’t had lunch yet because I couldn’t wait to open the package)…
Since I first ventured out in the Blogworld a few years ago, and especially since I joined the weekly Booking Through Thursday meme (not sure when that was – around two years ago, maybe?), e-readers seem to have become increasingly popular; and judging by what I come across in the Blogworld, I rarely hear about any other kind than Kindle.
In Sweden however, it’s not that simple. Kindle is not an obvious choice, as Amazon don’t have Swedish e-books. Moreoever, libraries as well as publishers here have hesitated between different systems; and library books here can’t be downloaded to Kindle.
Actually I’ve never seen any kind of e-reader advertised in Swedish media, or in a store where I could just go in and check out what they really look like. And no one I knew had one...
… until, this summer, my brother (who else?) bought a Kindle (from the US), and brought it to show me when he was visiting. That was the first time (and so far the only time) I saw one IRL (in real life). After that demonstration, I did see some advantages of it though, and decided to order one for myself too.
Ordering the Kindle proved easier said than done though. The first time I tried (back in August), I obviously did something wrong, because just I kept getting error messages. So I got tired and gave up, and it took me a while to get inspired to try again.
This week I decided to have another go. Scriptor Senex mentioned a book that sounded interesting, and when searching, I found that the title was available as e-book for Kindle… So again, I was inspired to try and overcome the obstacles.
When I got to the Amazon webpage this time, however, it seemed that the version my brother has – Kindle Touch - was no longer available, but has just been replaced by a brand new version just now being heavily launched (Kindle Paperwhite). That one seemed to have both pros and cons compared to the Touch that I had set my mind on…
… so I had to start by reading up again on reviews and demonstration videos etc. But as the new one seemed the only option now (except the cheaper Kindle, with buttons instead of touch ), I decided to go for it; and went ahead…
… Or so I thought. But again the order just would not go through and I kept getting error messages, and couldn’t figure out what on earth I’d done wrong.
Until… I suddenly noticed a small-print link referring me to the "international" page; and it dawned on me that every time I'd visited the site so far, I'd been on a page for US residents only; so that was why I was unable to complete the purchase.
SO I clicked on the magic link and got transported to the international page. But what do you think I found there? … NO trace or mention of the new Kindle Paperwhite; but instead the Kindle Touch that I originally had in mind still seemed available!
Confused, I left Amazon and went a-googling again. Turned out that the new Paperwhite is only being launched in the US for now (and even there it seems they are having problems with the delivery date), and no date has been set for when it will also be sold to Europe. The speculations are that Amazon want to make sure they have enough PWs for all the Americans who want it for Christmas first! So Europe will probably have to wait another five or six months (or until we’ve bought all the remaining stock of the Touch … my suspicion!).
Finally having got this far in the process - did I want to have to wait another five or six months?? No I did not! Especially not since I had been set on the Touch to begin with, and hadn’t heard a word about the new one until that very day. So (after some trouble in finding my way back to the well-hidden Amazon International page...) I went ahead and made another attempt to place an order... And yay! This time I succeeded! The Kindle Touch has been shipped, and is on its way. With luck, I might even get it before the weekend.
The main advantage of the “old” Touch over the new(est) one is that it also supports audio; something that has been removed again from the new Paperwhite. As I like the idea of being able to shift between reading vs listening to the same book, I hope it will all turn out for the best for me that I’m European and not American…
At the same time I have to shake my head a bit at the marketing process, though… (And also the lack of a world-wide common standard for e-books, still.)
No doubt I’ll get back to this topic here once I’ve got my Kindle and have had a chance to get more acquainted with it. While waiting, I’ve already downloaded a number of free books to “the cloud”, so that I will have something to start with…
Wikipedia: “The Amazons (Greek: Ἀμαζόνες, Amazónes, singular Ἀμαζών, Amazōn) are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Their name has become a term for female warriors in general.”
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson
It’s Macro Monday at Lisa’s Chaos again.
Lisa has been keeping this meme going for 4 years now!
Congratulations to her, and Happy Monday to everyone!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
