Amazon's Kindle Fire - A Review and a Story

My wonderful husband bought me a Kindle Fire for a (v-e-r-y) early birthday present.  I feel so modern!  And a little surprised, because there was a time that I was against tablets in general.  I'm technically young, but I find myself having a lot of "when I was a kid" moments.  My family was not technology up-to-date, so we got Internet, cellphones, and video games later than other people we knew.  Heck, I played the majority of my Game Boy games in good old fashioned black and white.  I never felt the pressure or desire to have the latest and greatest, which I have carried throughout my life.

So it's no surprise that I was leery when reading tablets first started coming out.  Books have been around for thousands of years.  Our society is built on books.  Instruction manuals, cookbooks, fiction, textbooks, photo albums, magazines, journals, picture books galore.  Libraries let you borrow then for free, and people are always giving them away.  They are easy to collect and easy to personalize with highlighters and notes.  I loved and took pride in the books I personally saved money for and bought.  Nothing is more satisfying than a bookshelf packed with lovely books.

Therefore, when I learned about electronic books that lacked all physical form, that threatened to change the way mankind interacted with and collected books, I was kind of like this...

I can be very stubborn when I want to be (just ask my mom and husband).  With time, however, reading tablets became more advanced, more user friendly, and (most importantly) more affordable.  More of my friends got tablets so I could (cautiously) observe how they worked from a distance.  Finally, I outright looked it up and research it.  I eventually learned enough to make me consider even (*le gasp*) buying one. 

Well, I'm glad I made that decision.  :)  The Kindle Fire was a very good purchase, and has many benefits.  First, I'll cover the basics:

• It has a super-responsive touch screen.  My iPod Shuffle's touch screen can be a little hard to manage, and Barnes and Noble's Nook can be downright frustrating, but Kindle Fire has been a real pleasure to use.  The screen is easy to clean, too.
• The battery life has been reliable, even with almost constant use. 
• The graphics are lovely and it's SO user friendly, which is a really big deal for a personal electronic like this.
• You can't beat Amazon's variety in books.  There are tons on free stuff (including many classics like Pride and Prejudice and Heidi) and lots of books under $3.
• I can upload PDF files and Word Documents.  I made a homemade comic book this way by pasting a bunch of online comic pages on a Word Document and sending it to my Kindle.

There are many more great things about the Kindle Fire, but the most important thing is that it changed my perspective on reading tablets and ebooks.  First of all, I literally have a library that can fit in my purse.  I can take a moment, anywhere and anytime, to access my books.  I often have anxiety on the job, so having access to "Shift Happens" is crucial to maintaining a optimistic day.  I can read a quick chapter during my break and feel worlds better.  I have also downloaded the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, and General Conference talks so I can also have small spiritual moments, too.  Of course, I also have access to pleasure reading.  I can actually read a book instead of grabbing whatever is nearby to read (i.e. a cereal box, coupons, magazines I don't care about, etc.).

Not only is the Kindle Fire a convenient way to carry books around with me, it also prevents my home from being overrun with books.  Just like I mentioned earlier, the sight of a crammed bookshelf makes me happy, but there must be moderation in all things.  My mom has over 15 bookshelves in various rooms throughout her house, and she still doesn't have enough room for all her books!  That being said, I am a firm believer in exposing children to real, physical, honest picture books.  So when my kids are young, I am bringing them over to my mom's house and letting them have fun with her massive library.  For me, however, I have embraced electronic books and all the benefits I get from them.

If you have specific questions about how the Kindle Fire works or my opinion on certain facets of it, please leave a comment.  :)

Books I'm Reading Right Now On Kindle Fire:

 

Whenever I read Holden's short and easy-to-read chapters,

my anxiety just melts away.  It's the best self-help book I have ever read

because it doesn't make me feel guilty!

As a fiction writer, I have learned so much from this book series,

and I love Orson Scott Card's contribution.  He doesn't tell you

how to write; he tells you how to discover how you write.

My mom read this to me and my brothers when I was little,

and I have many fond memories of it, so I want to rediscover a classic's charms.

This book was absolutely free.

Oh, and I'm playing the Fruit Ninja app, too.  :]