It might seem strange for someone who writes science fiction, but I enjoy reading historical fiction quite a lot. I have a special fondness for novels written against the backdrop of English history because it illustrates so well that personality, talent, and circumstance had as much to do with who was in power as birth. Not to say that you could ( Read more... )

I've had a few days to take in the new line of Kindles, including the Fire, and I have to say I am impressed at how well Amazon has covered the market.

First, an explanation of "special offers," Amazon-speak for ads. All e-ink Kindles can be bought for $40 or $50 cheaper if you get them with ads in place of the usual screen savers of author ( Read more... )

For a long time, when someone asked me what ereader they should buy, if they had “must be able to borrow library ebooks” on their list of ereader features, I told them not to get a Kindle. As of today, that's not my answer anymore. Amazon announced that a whole bunch of public libraries would now be able to "loan" ebooks to Kindle owners ( Read more... )

This is another Kindle post. If you're not interested in ebooks, and how they work, move along. Sorry you have to rush, and here's your hat ( Read more... )

If you have a Kindle or if you read on a multi-use device with a Kindle app, today's post is for you! If you don't, you can move on to the next blog; nothing to see here.

I stumbled over a great site called eReader IQ, that does a couple of the things I wish Amazon had done themselves. The two best features are a) it lets you enter a link to a ( Read more... )

Amazon had said a month or two ago that they would have Kindle book lending “by the end of the year.” They announced it today. Cutting it close, there, Amazon!

If you are at all interested, Amazon's official directions on how to use this function are here; some excellent additional info is here on Mashable. Note that at present, it only works ( Read more... )

Yes, this is yet another ebook post. Well, really what it is is a gripe session. I have bought three Kindles from Amazon (OK, technically two were gifts from my husband, but the principle is the same). I love my Kindle. As a reader, I love that I can have a library in my purse, buy books almost anywhere, get free samples before I buy, and often ( Read more... )

When Amazon came out with the Kindle 2, they did away with a couple of things that had been present in the Kindle 1, specifically an SD card, and a user changeable battery. I do wish Kindle batteries could be changed by the user, but I suspect the sale of Kindles at Best Buy and Target could also mean batteries can be replaced there, at some ( Read more... )

I've been using the Kindle 3 for a couple of days now, and as far as I'm concerned, the news is almost all good. The Kindle 2 is a perfectly usable eReader, but Kindle 3 is even better. The (not very good) picture at the bottom of the entry shows the progression from K1 through K2 and K3. You can see it got bigger and then smaller, even though the ( Read more... )

Amazon got my new Kindle 3 here in one day, and so far it works perfectly! I cannot believe how fast I can copy books from my media library (on Amazon) to the Kindle when I have the wifi option turned on. I click the button to download and in about 10 seconds, the title appears on the home screen. Whoopee ( Read more... )