Amazon Kindle Owners: Recommendations?

[Shugardrawers]

I've had my Kindle about 3 months now and I must say it's the best entertainment type purchase of that price point I've ever spent! It has provided hour upon hour upon hour of entertainment, information and especially distraction right now while I'm bedridden after my ankle surgery. to the person who invented this thing! I'm pretty sure I'll buy every new version that comes out

Only problem is I'm still finding myself limiting myself to the same stuff different day things I've always read. If I'm going to get my money's worth I want to branch out but I also want to find the new and intersting things in my usual categories too. In general I find I enjoy:

Biographies (I've got everything from Princess Diana to Martha Washington to John Adams and loved them all. ) After having seen The Other Boleyn Girl I'm loving bios of the Tudors and older english monarchs.

Historical Fiction: I like a good story, romance is great, but I'm not into fantasy or gore or strangeness. I'm also not much of one for christian fiction though I did enjoy the Left Behind series for the most part, not for the message, but for the story.

I'm always up for how to type books like decorating, crafting, organization, keeping my home cleaner easier type stuff (boring I know)

I'd like to try more social/political/commentary and regular fiction that's entertaining and NOT dry.

So what have you gotten for your Kindle and what would you recommend to others that you've read so far?

 

[WDWBarb]

I wish I had advice, but my poor Kindle has been woefully neglected the last 6 months I've been so busy, I haven't read at all.

And to think, last December, I was checking Amazon by the HOUR to see if my new Kindle had shipped because I couldn't live a second longer without it!

 

[Shugardrawers]

I did the same thing! I was just frantic waiting for it to show up and every day it didn't I was more and more obsessed with the tracking button The day I knew it would be here I wouldn't even shower until UPS had been here because I was scared to death I'd miss him

I just love that it's so portable I can take it and read it in my Drs waiting rooms instead of 7 month old Good Housekeeping mags, while waiting at the pharmacy, even when I stop off Taco Belch for lunch I have something to read while I eat. I keep better track of my Kindle than my car keys

 

[WDWBarb]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one so fanatically obsessed! My DH and DD were ready to strangle me When it finally arrived, I carried it around everywhere for weeks.

But then I switched jobs and now I work 12 hour days, 5 days a week and I barely have time to sleep so my Kindle doesn't get much attention. My DH assures me that he's ready to start the adoption process and he'll care for my Kindle any time I'm ready to give it up

And I actually do have a suggestion - have you read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon? If you like history and romance, they are amazing books. She's an incredible writer. It's typically not my kind of stuff but I read the first one (Outlander) at the suggestion of a friend and I couldn't stop.

 

[hoosll]

You must read "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" - set just after WWII.

Try the "Lace Reader" and "What was Lost"

"Monsters of Templeton"

"Enslaved by Ducks"

Try the books by Julia Spencer-Fleming, start with the first book and watch her characters develop as well as her writing skill over the course of her novels.

Classic historical novel: "Katherine" by Anya Seton

 

[Lanshark]

I read a lot and this looks like a cool device. How much are books? Last I checked they seemed pretty high. What do you spend on new releases and on books that available in paperback?

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

I love my Kindle so much! Everywhere I take it, people want to stop and look at it. My husband did not think it was a big deal but he stole it from me when we were on vacation and would not give it back. I have been reading novels, history, bios, everything!
I am going to away for the holidays and I am going to stock it up for the long flight.
Google "free Kindle books" and you can find sites that offer books (mostly classics) for free.

 

[Shugardrawers]

I read a lot and this looks like a cool device. How much are books? Last I checked they seemed pretty high. What do you spend on new releases and on books that available in paperback?

At $350 it seems like a lot initially. Where you start to see the savings is in the purchase of books. I would buy TONS and I mean nearly every one of my book purchases was hardback or a paperback over $15. Being a voracious reader that added up quickly. I always had trouble finding just what I wanted 2nd hand so I usually bought them new at the bookstore. Kindle books start at .99 and go up to $9.99 for the newest releases. Never over that. As another poster pointed out, with some googling you can find some for free. For heavy readers it's a great investment that pays for itself quickly.

 

[meloneyb21]

Exactly what is a Kindle?

 

[Julia M]

Exactly what is a Kindle?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455646201&pf_rd_i=507846

 

[hoosll]

Oprah.com has a code to get $50 off the kindle this week.

 

[MelanieC]

I just bought a Kindle yesterday. I'm so excited to get it. I sure wish I would have known about it when I just bought all the twilight books.

 

[Dokietoes]

Target has the Sony Reader digital book in today's ad/circular for $300. Includes 101 free downloads. Will have to compare....anyone tried one yet?

 

[Shugardrawers]

Haven't tried the Sony but with Kindle gaining popularity and all other E-readers dying painful deaths I figured it wasn't even worth it to spend much time researching others considering my Kindle has already paid for itself in 3 mos. Can't say I heard great things about the Sony but I don't recall anything too bad either. I just went with what I thought would would still be around 5 years from now.

If you think the 101 downloads will last you a good long time it could turn out to be a better buy for you in the long run. Also consider how many different books are available for download to you. Amazon's goal is every book ever written but it's not there yet. I think it's around 175K, are they all available to you on the Sony or does Amazon have exclusive rights on many? Where and how often can you get those free downloads? If you can get everything Amazon has to offer and whenever you want them that's a pretty good deal. If it's kinda limited, you might think twice. Especially since I think it might not be all that long until Kindle 2.0 comes out. My totally uneducated guess would be 18 to 24 months max if the Amazon boards are correct and TPTB are listening to our requests, praises and constructive criticisms.

All in all, even if the Kindle NEVER gets an upgrade, it's still been worth every dime I spent on it. If a person enjoys reading and tends to spend I'd say even $50 a month on books the Kindle will quickly pay for itself.

 

[heatherleigh]

Do they have any books that are not mainstream? I read a lot of Jewish history books that are not mainstream. Many of them are published by very small publishers. This wouldn't make or break my decision to get it, because I'm sure I'd find plenty to read. The more responses I read to this thread, the more sure I am, that I'm getting this for Christmas. I just spent $26.00 yesterday on two books. Those will last me all of a week, if I'm lucky.

 

[disneynutt1225]

How many books can you have loaded to the device at one time? Is there a max capacity? What happens when you've reached the max?

I go through spurts where I don't read at all, and then I go through spurts where I read - oh, let's say the whole Twilight series in 6 days . While it seems like an expensive purchase intially, this might be right up my alley, and I wouldn't have books laying around all over the place. My DH mentioned wanting to buy me one when they first came out, but I didn't take him seriously.

 

[DVCLiz]

I LOVE my Kindle!!!! I've had it for almost five months. I'm averaging a book a week and a daily newspaper.

As far as the comparison between the Sony and the Kindle, the Kindle's greatest strength is the ability to download wirelessly instead of from a computer. I can read the New York Times at the counter of my local drugstore at breakfast, see a title reviewed, go online to the Amazon Kindle store, download a sample of the book (usually 2 or 3 chapters, sometimes less) for FREE, or download the book itself in a minute or less for 9.99 or less (most NYT bestsellers are 9.99).

That feature and the Amazon brand behind it are what made me buy. I am a librarian so I held out on ebooks for a while, but I love the ability to have something new to read no matter where I am or what time of day or night it is. A friend once sent me an email about a favorite author's new book while I was on vacation - yep, downloaded it at midnight and read the first two chapters before I went to bed!!

Oh, I also like...the dictionary feature, the MP3 capability, the ability to change font sizes, the web browser, the link to Wikipedia, the ability to check my email, etc. etc. etc.

I LOVE my Kindle!!!

 

[WDWBarb]

Do they have any books that are not mainstream? I read a lot of Jewish history books that are not mainstream. Many of them are published by very small publishers. This wouldn't make or break my decision to get it, because I'm sure I'd find plenty to read. The more responses I read to this thread, the more sure I am, that I'm getting this for Christmas. I just spent $26.00 yesterday on two books. Those will last me all of a week, if I'm lucky.

You can browse all of the books they currently offer on Amazon.com. The only ones that I'd like to have on my Kindle and aren't are the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling apparently isn't a fan of the medium

 

[DVCLiz]

How many books can you have loaded to the device at one time? Is there a max capacity? What happens when you've reached the max?

I go through spurts where I don't read at all, and then I go through spurts where I read - oh, let's say the whole Twilight series in 6 days . While it seems like an expensive purchase intially, this might be right up my alley, and I wouldn't have books laying around all over the place. My DH mentioned wanting to buy me one when they first came out, but I didn't take him seriously.

It will hold 200 books at a time, but you can also add as many SD cards as you like, so you can have an almost limitless supply on hand!!! If you finish a book you have bought from Amazon and decide to delete it, Amazon stores it for you - it leaves Kindle memory but can be downloaded again (for free) if you decide you want to reread it.

I usually delete things once I read them, so I only have a dozen or so titles (and a lot of samples!!) on my Kindle itself, but I can go to the "Content Manager" function and see a list of everything I have downloaded since the first day - and I can get any of it back instantly if I want it.

Keep in mind there are lots of free book sites - the Amazon forums have loads of suggestions about how to get free books that are in the public domain. Not everything has to be purchased from Amazon.

But yes, I have all 4 Twilight books!!!!! (No Harry Potter, though - JK Rowling is not a fan of the ebook concept yet and has so far refused permission to allow them to be printed in that format. We can hope, though!!!)

 

[disneynutt1225]

It will hold 200 books at a time, but you can also add as many SD cards as you like, so you can have an almost limitless supply on hand!!! If you finish a book you have bought from Amazon and decide to delete it, Amazon stores it for you - it leaves Kindle memory but can be downloaded again (for free) if you decide you want to reread it.

Excellent! Thanks for the quick response!

I won't necessarily need the other features you mentioned in an earlier post (email and Wiki being two that stick out in my mind) because I have an iPhone, but it does sound like a good idea for me book-wise. Sounds like I should talk to my DH about this a little bit more.

I wouldn't want to get one now and then see a "new and improved" model come out a few months from now. What are the rumors saying for the release of the next version?