Kindle.

[snooky]

Gave in and bought my Wife a Kindle.My daughter brought hers with her when she visited over Christmas,my Wife was loathe to relinquish it!! I now need to borrow a ten-year old child to set it up!!!!!

[Catherine]

Ha Ha My OH bought me one for Christmas without the keyboard and although it took time to do it, it was not really not difficult. You just have to take your time and concentrate.

I down loaded five books and have read three since Christmas.

[Monika]

I tried my granddaughter's Kindle last year and must say, I would hate to read my books on there! It just doesn't feel like "reading" to hold this thing rather than a real book with covers and pages. I often go back in a book (never read fiction, so it's mainly histories or biographies) to check on something and, although I know that is possible and easy on a Kindle, I would miss the actual physical turning of the page, Luddite me.

But do enjoy yours (or your wife's)!

[Colin_M]

Hi Snooky, I got my wife one for her birthday.

When her mum came over, she fell in love with it. Despite not being "like" a real book, she liked it because:
- Her eyesight is going, so she needs large print books
. These tend to be hardback, so are big & heavy
- She has arthritis, so can't hold these big books with any comfort.

The idea of something like Kindle (where you can change the font size) was a godsend to her - she ordered one the following week. Luckily she lives nearby, so any "helpdesk calls" shouldn't be too hard to solve.

[glallotments]

It seems you either love or hate Kindles. I love most things to do with computers. I go back to being the first in the school I taught in to love using the old BBC computers. Then going on the teaching teachers how to use computers in a classroom. I'm creating something on my computer most days and have lots of attached gadgets that I wouldn't be without. (All this to show I'm not a technology hater)!
But ... I do love my books to be made from paper with pages that turn. I don't even find reading websites with masses of text an interesting read on a screen. On screen I want photos and graphics to draw me in but on paper a mass of text is just fine!

[Stephen]

There certainly are circumstances when a Kindle is a good answer and Colin's post gives a particular example.
I'm sure that it is not for me. Unless you only read fiction, there are so many books which benefit from illustrations, of one form or another. The biographies which Monica reads will almost always be illustrated and benefit from it.
Anyway, I love second hand bookshops.