Ten Reasons Why I Love My Kindle
Bookworm for Life
I was the kid who always had a book with her. Always, always, always. At night, in the car, I’d have one of those clip-on book lights. My nose was truly always in a book. I read a lot in both undergrad and graduate school (Duh. I was an English major, and then Public Admin grad student. I read the 9/11 Commission Report. It’s long). There wasn’t a lot of time to read for fun. But now, that time is abundant! Plus, I’m always wanting to be a better writer and also expand my writing. Reading is one of the best ways to learn about writing.
I will probably never reach my pandemic-era level of reading when I was unemployed and stuck at home. But I am trying to read more and more - usually, it is competing against jewelry making - and I am trying to read a wider variety of books, which means more fiction.
These days, people like to debate physical books versus e-readers. I always thought I’d be a “both” kind of gal, but, more and more, I am finding myself relying on my Kindle Paperwhite. Frankly, I’m obsessed. I’m on my third one, and I believe I got my first one while in college - and I graduated ten years ago. The e-reader itself might be my favorite technological advancement.
A few of my favorite Kindle reasons also apply to physical books (Like, “you can read a physical book and not go on your phone” or “No blue light with a physical book”). But the convenience of the Kindle wins out for me. So, I hope you enjoy ten reasons why I love my Kindle. What about you? (Also, I’m finding a lot of posts have to do with book reviews, so this tracks. Is that what the kids say?)
Quote courtesy PBS’s long-running cartoon featuring everyone’s favorite aardvark, Arthur.
Ten Reasons I Love My Kindle
I have a library in the palm of my hand: I have small hands. Small hands with stubby fingers. So holding a device that isn’t much bigger than my phone but is providing me with a 600+ page book? Mind-blowingly awesome.And then the next book, and the next, and so on.
Portable: Again, a device that fits in the palm of my hand moves around better than a 600-page book. I can just throw the Kindle in my bag and call it a day. It just doesn’t fit in my lululemon belt bag (which, off-topic here, but I can’t love this bag more. Only if it was a smidge bigger to fit my Kindle). But it fits in 99% of my bags…and if you know me…you know I’m bag-obsessed and have several. Not only do I have a library in the palm of my hand, I can easily bring it along basically anywhere. When I was in the hospital for pancreatitis, which turned out to be a dead gallbladder, I had my mom bring me my Kindle. Deathly ill, and I wanted my Kindle. Joke was on me because I couldn’t barely comprehend the conversations around me, let alone try to read.
Nightly Routine: When I start reading my Kindle in the evening, once I’ve gone to my room for the night, that’s my stop point for going on my phone. Kindle time means no more phone time. It is part of my routine.
e-Reader Only: My Kindle is only my Kindle. No other apps attached. It is only used for reading. And I love that. It’s so easy to get distracted by notifications, but when I get deep into something that doesn’t involved my phone or tablet or whatever, I can dig in pretty good and not give a hoot. Yes, I do have the Kindle app on my iPhone and iPad, but that’s pretty much for comic reading since it’s also in color. Me and my Kindle, away from the world.
Not as much blue light / glare free (self-lit): The Kindle Paperwhite is built with glare-free screens using e-Ink, which gives the screen a paper-like appearance and is easier on the eyes than the bright white we’re used to from our phones and tablets. It does still have blue light so it doesn’t get off scot-free here, but it is definitely easier on the eyes than your phone. Plus, it is back-lit so you need less light overall to read. (It doesn’t hurt to have blue light glasses either, however. My current “normal” glasses do guard against blue light.) The newest Paperwhite does boast having a “warm” lighting option for ease on the eyes and automatically adjusts itself to the lighting around you.
Highlights and annotations are a little cleaner/better organized: I don’t have neat handwriting. I don’t carry a highlighter with me everywhere. So being able to highlight and annotate is a great feature to have. And a lot cleaner. It can’t leave “sticky notes” like you can on the Scribe, but it is good enough for me.
Long battery life / doesn’t take long to charge: Charging isn’t a major inconvenience. In the great physical books versus e-reader debate, often I see cartoons of an e-reader running out of battery life while a physical book is nearby and always ready to be picked up. Yes, Kindles do need charging, but they hold a charge for a long time. I bought my current Kindle in January, and I charged it yesterday for only the second or third time. It still had around 30% battery life, and I put it on charge when I went to bed. So there’s really no inconvenience with needing to charge, nor does it interrupt my reading time. Also, my Paperwhite charges with USB-C, which literally Everything but My iPhone (and maybe AirPods?) use now.
Waterproof: When we had a pool, I especially loved that the Kindle was waterproof. I could float around without worrying about ruining pages or getting splashed. I wasn’t trying to dunk the damn thing, but ruining the Kindle wasn’t something I had to worry about.
Libby app: “Having fun isn’t hard when you have a library card!” still rings true. The Libby app is a digital network of the libraries we love that allows you to borrow e-books and audiobooks. Buying books gets expensive. You can read across devices, and everything will sync up, including your notes and highlights.You don’t even have to have the Libby app on your Kindle - Libby connects to your Amazon account which then sends the books to your Kindle (which, obviously, is good because you can’t put apps on the Paperwhite).
Time Left in Book Feature: I love having a number estimate on how long it’ll take me to read the book. You can change this to time in chapter, page number or location (don’t understand that one), but time left in book is my favorite. It’s like when a maps app tells you how long it’ll take to reach your destination - can I beat it? I know I’m not the only one who has tried that.
One thing I would like to recognize as a dislike but this is more Amazon-based anyways: Why can’t I buy Kindle books in the Amazon app? You have to do it from an external web browser. I don’t understand this. Please help me understand.
Kindle Positivity & Accessories
Also, shout-out to the Kindle-positive Facebook groups out there. They’re fun. And they inspired me to decorate my Kindle with stickers. Because why not? The sticker packs I use for bullet journaling always have a ton of stickers that I don’t use, and I was able to at least use some here.
I’m not sure if my love of reading came from getting a personal pan pizza upon goal achievement, or if my love of pizza came along with the reading.
There’s also a bunch of TikTok channels dedicated to All Things Kindle, (plus, the ever-popular #BookTok) but going down that rabbit hole probably wouldn’t be my best decision, I’d never get anything done, and my #TBR pile would grow, somehow, ever more out of control. The Kindle Girlies - and Kindle Bros - are out there living their best, book-filled lives. There are also accessories galore for the Kindle, including a page-turner people swear by. However, I can’t believe I never thought to get a Pop Socket for my Kindle! I’ve used one on my phone for years.
As time goes on, I’m pretty sure the only books I’ll buy physical copies of will end up being Star Wars books. I’ll never not appreciate a physical book, but the size and portability are things I just can’t beat.
And now I’d just like to share a couple of my Kindle add-ons. (No affiliate here. Just sharing.)
Another Kindle case if you want a cover (the material feels kind of denim-y, but it says its water-safe, so that’s a plus.
Fun stickers can be found here
What do you love about your Kindle? Or physical books? Or just books?
