Kindles

I was so anti-kindle but was given one as a present and in the first week I read four books and had difficultly putting it down.
Also agree with glassortwo you can get some really smart cases on ebay.

I dropped mine outside on concrete!I miss it when I go away because I had the 3G version and could access emails/ Internet practically anywhere for free.It was quite slow but really useful when you needed to check something and were nowhere near access to WiFi.

If you are getting a case go onto Ebay as they are much cheaper than Kindle.

I have dropped mine on the floor when I have dropped off to sleep and its been fine, but it is in a case.

If you have it in a protective case that absorbs the impact, the Kindle should be fine unless you actively throw it. Mine has occasionally slipped onto the bedroom floor, which is carpeted, and has come to no harm.

My main worry about a having a Kindle would be dropping it. I do this so often reading in bed at night and the book falls on the floor. A kindle would make reading dreadfully expensive. Besides I like browsing the library.

Ooh! That was cheeky JO.Did you speak to a nice young man, think I'll try it

If you can't remember who a character is, you can type their name into the search at the bottom of the page and it takes you to where they first appeared in the book. And subsequent appearances. That's quite good.

Mine was out of guarantee too.

I let mine fall off a bannister post. Had the same effect as Grannylin's. Amazon did replace it for half price, and it came downloaded with all my books on it which was pretty fair I guess.

Had a scare last night. Dozed off while reading it in bed and it nearly slipped onto the floor.

I loved my Kindle - loved because I dropped it and it has a horrible shattered looking screen.It's no longer under guarantee and I haven't replaced it because I can use the Kindle account for my IPad.My daughter got through 3( all replaced at no cost ) in a year. Just a warning for clumsy people like us

Love my kindle for travelling and places like hospital waiting rooms or train journeys. Would also agree about the difficulty with flipping back and forth in a book, although I do sometimes add a bookmark every so often, so that I can flip about a bit more easily.

It doesn't replace books, but is a very useful addition. Buy now with one-click is definitely dangerous, but where would we be without a little excitement?

love my Kindle but not for anthologies-can't flip through to find a poem or story at random. also I have a dark grey cover-frequently left it in the tray at airport searches until I put a key ring with a bell on it.

I love my Kindle, but share Flickety's problem with wanting to go backwards and forwards. I don't like it at all for non-fiction. For me, living abroad, it replaces the library and bookshops for quick reads and instant gratification!

I received a Kindle for Christmas last year and from a practical point of view it is fabulous. I went away on holiday and that was all the reading material I needed to take with me. It lives in my handbag and I have read it in doctor's waiting rooms, railway stations, when trains are delayed and other odd moments when i have had unexpected waits.

The one problem I have, and I have yet to meet anyone that shares it. I find it very difficult to read a book on it that I havent first read in book form. The reason for this is that when I first read a book I read quite fast and tend to go forward and back in it, seeing what will happen, re-read what has happen. I do not do a first read in a linear fashion, which you have to do with any electronic book.

Once I have read it in paper once I really enjoy re-reading on Kindle, I read in much more detail and pick up hints and cues in the text that I missed when I read a book. One of the first books I downloaded was the full works of Jane Austen, all of whose novels I have read time without number over the years, yet when forced to read Kindle style, line by line, page by page I found all sorts of sentences and background comments that I must have read but never noticed before.

Thanks for all the tips and advice everyone. I have lots to mull over now. It's so good to be able to get unbiased views!

I love my kindle with a passion - it is so exciting to realise that you have a whole world of books at your fingertips! Sne kindle has daily deals for 99p and there are loads of free books, so it need not cost a fortune.
I have the basic kindle and see no need for anything else. I like the grey tinge to the screen - the newer ones are brighter white andf I do not want that.

They have mothballed the Kindle Touch which has the grey screen but touchscreen technology - bit of a pain really as that is the one DD wanted from us all for Christmas.

More expensive ones have touchscreen and all sorts of bells and whistles - I have no need of all that.

I was like you gagagran and always insisted there was nothing better than holding a real book and turning the pages. However I ran out of books to read and my DH suggested I borrow his Kindle. Very reluctantly I did, expecting to hand it back after a few minutes. Two books later and I'm still "borrowing" it! He is buying me the Kindle Fire HD for Christmas so he can have it back, although I think he is hoping I will keep his and he can play with all the lights and whistles on the new one!

I can add no more to all the positive comments above. Hospital waiting rooms are now a place to enjoy my current book, likewise train journeys - no longer things to dread and to frustrate. My Amazon habit is spiralling out of control and I shudder to think what I have spent since last Christmas but I would probably have succumbed to the "3 for 2" deals at the station WH Smith and finished up throwing at leat one away. Mine too is the most basic - light, small enough to fit into a handbag - best Christmas gift ever!

Oh yes - couldn't agree more. I bought mine to go on holiday but use it all the time. Several bookshelves worth of books are in my archive now. Just at the moment I am reading 'Bring up the Bodies' in hardback because - oddly - it was cheaper on Amazon, but you can't snuggle down under the duvet with it the way you can with a Kindle.

What more can I say? Tell him ''yes, please''. Wonderful for the old arthritic thumbs.

I also love books and was wary about getting a Kindle but got one when going on holiday for the first time alone (no-one to carry the heavy suitcase with all the books). It is brilliant - go for it, you won't regret it.

MiceElf I agree about holidays. We used to have a case full of books for a two week holiday. DH has been persuaded by my experience to get a Kindle as well so holiday luggage will be much lighter in the future.

My Kindle 3 is now at least two years old (I lose count these days), and it is my constant companion. With all the free books available as well as the ones you can purchase, I'm never without a library in my pocket. A real plus, I find, is having the dictionary lookup - I enjoy 19th Century authors, like Trollope, Dickens and Jane Austen, and sometimes the vocabulary can be a touch unfamiliar - but a couple of clicks gives me the definition, and another click puts me back on the page I was reading. Magic!

And, best of all it means only one suitcase for holidays instead of one for clothes and things and one for books.