Entry 42 or Resistance is Futile

[amphitritie]

I promised I wouldn't. I swore on the ashes of Douglas Adams and I have failed. However, I choose to not view this as a personal failure. There were many hours spent in a solitary room with temptation just an arm's length away and I did not falter, but what's a girl to do when it is placed into her very hands, by Grandma of all people? One cannot resist and, oh so cautiously, I delved into this magical world. Well, I can tell you, there's no turning back now.

Didn't understand my cryptic language: one of my birthday presents was the Kindle DX.

I love books, I adore their vibrant covers, their slick or scratchy pages, the way they yellow and fray over time, how they can capture old memories invoked by just the look of a page or a few blots of ink, how they evolve their own individual smells, and the stories! In this, I have been very hostile towards and hesitant to embrace any technology that aims to nullify the printed word. BUT, this new Kindle is . . . so alluring.

What I love:

• Thin, non metallic feel that doesn't strain my wrist or make my palms sore to hold it.
• Screen that isn't a screen. This is hard to explain, but definitely get a much more paper like vibe from it which is FABULOUS. It's kind of like the screen of a drawing tablet except with images on it. It's not possible to smudge it either! So easy on the eyes. This was actually my major squee feature when I first unwrapped I spent a couple minutes just stroking the screen and flipping through pages to see the ink change, but no reading.
• Page turning buttons on two sides. I actually can use the other hand when one gets tired.
• Voice menus: good for the visually impaired, a slighty monotone,  but suitable voice leads me through the many menus.
• Wi-fi connection capability = ability to immediately download books off Amazon.com straight onto the Kindle, say if I'm sitting in the living room and to lazy to go upstairs on the computer to purchase/read.
• Dictionary: SAT prep FTW
• A screensaver with lots of birds on it. Yes, I am that shallow.
• Bookmarks
• Easily accessible newspapers/magazines. For someone who can't read something unless it's less than an inch from her face, not having to stretch arms out as far as they can go to hold a newspaper properly is GOOD. Maybe now I'll actually read the news, once I convince Dad to pay to subscription to NY Times.
• PDF file transfer: I can read all my peer review articles for science on the go!

I named him Elijah. So far, I've opened this yesterday and already backed it all up with reading material, which I intend to devour once I finish Trainspotting.
I Have Bought:

• Hamlet
• io9 (blog)
• The New York Times (newspaper)
• The Federalist Papers
• The Journals of Lewis and Clarke
• Waiting for Godot
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Jacob's Room
• The Vanishing Man
• The Definitive HP Lovecraft
• The Book of Werewolves
• The Man who was Thursday
• The Invisible Man
• Science News (Magazine)
• In Cold Blood
• The Dangerous Dimension
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Buddha
• Flatland
• Man's Place in Nature
• Asmiov's Science Fiction (Magazine)
• Lolita
• And I would have bought more if Dad hadn't suddenly realized the danger of having me constantly hooked up the web, able to buy off Amazon with his credit card at will. ;)