I love books. I love the way it feels to hold a book, to smell inside a new book, to spend hours perusing the bookstore. Everything about reading and books brings me a special sense of peace that washes over me. I love to get lost in a good story, and I love to see how far I’ve come with how many more pages there are ahead of me. I even did a 52 books in 52 weeks challenge this year and completely annihilated it (I’m currently at 65 books for the year).
Part of my reading experience included flipping the pages and looking ahead to see how many pages are left in the chapter – maybe I can squeeze it in before I fall asleep or go back to some other annoying responsibility. The only part of the reading experience with books that I dislike is the amount of space that the printed book takes up after I’ve finished it. I have been a huge fan of the library simply to keep my book collection at a reasonable level and not make myself a target of the show Hoarders.
Enter the Kindle Paperwhite
My husband had been trying for years to get me to convert to some sort of e-reader. For a while I even used my iPad and the iBooks store to test the water with e-reading and I was not impressed. The experience of reading on my iPad was nothing compared to the amazement I felt when reading a physical book.
One Christmas everything changed. My husband gifted me the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and I haven’t looked back since.
Features I love
Not only is it super light weight and easy to take with me everywhere, but my love for borrowing from the library was able to continue. An app called Libby changed my life. You sign up for Libby using your local library credentials and link your Kindle. This allows you to borrow e-books from your library and load them directly onto your kindle! Not only can you instantly borrow any available e-book, but you can even place holds on e-books and manage your waitlist, too! Finished reading a book? Simply return the e-book through the Libby app or directly from your kindle device.
I’ve had my Kindle Paperwhite for 2 years and it is just as amazing now as it was when I first opened it. I love that I can read it in any light, including direct sunlight (I used my kindle daily on the beach in Grand Cayman), and it has a dark mode now that you can turn on (I love dark mode for reading before bed). Don’t like to read before bed because you fall asleep and lose your place? That will never happen with your kindle. If you leave it idle for too long and it falls asleep, when you wake it the next time it’ll still be on the page you left off at.
It is so easy look up the definition of a word. You simply highlight the word and the dictionary definition will pop up, including examples of how to use the word in a sentence. I love this feature since it isn’t super distracting and helps me increase my vocabulary.
Can we talk about the battery life? This thing has an amazing battery life. I use mine daily and I don’t charge more than once weekly. The only reason my battery wears down a bit is because I like it bright when I’m reading inside. When using it with no light, like when reading outside, my battery life is so long that I forget which cable to use to re-charge it.
Another feature I love is that you can adjust not only the font but also the size of the font. When I don’t really feel like wearing my glasses, like when I’m reading before bed, I simply make the font bigger so that I can see the text more clearly. This is a feature I’ve definitely wished some books came with- you know the ones. With the teeny tiny text crammed onto the pages. Kindle solves that for anyone who has eyes that need a little help.
The argument for ad-supported
Normally I’m completely against advertisements. They can be so annoying and intrusive. However, with the ad-supported kindle (which is the one I have) the advertisements are books! Since Amazon loves to learn your habits, Amazon also does a pretty decent job recommending other books for you to check out. The ads are also pretty easy to ignore since they only ever show when your kindle is locked and don’t pop-up while you’re reading. In my opinion it’s the only time I’ve ever felt having ads was a net positive for an experience.
Kindle Unlimited
I had the 3 month free trial of Kindle Unlimited and was a huge fan! There were so many books available on demand that I had trouble pacing myself. The only reason I didn’t convert to a paid subscription after my trial was because Libby has been a great resource for me. However Libby’s options will only be as good as your local library system. I live in a big city with tons of library branches so my ability to borrow an e-book is pretty easy. If I lived somewhere smaller with a smaller library circuit, I’d probably consider doing Kindle Unlimited.
Final Thoughts
My kindle is probably one of my favorite electronic devices. If you’ve been thinking about getting one but are unsure about using an e-reader, fear not! This device is amazing and will only increase your love for amazing books and rainy day snuggles. Stay tuned for a follow-up post about some of my favorite kindle cases.
Make sure to check out these awesome Amazon Black Friday specials on kindle and kindle books! If you love to read or have a goal to read more, this device will change your life.
