h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi everyone! I've been reading tons of books on my new Kindle. For anyone who doesn't know, the Kindle is Amazon's ebook. I have one of the third generation Kindles, which is lightweight, has great battery life, and a higher contrast screen. Plus it will hold 3,000 books! (Not that I can afford that many, LOL) Most books only cost about ten dollars on the Kindle. A lot of public domain stuff is available free. AND OF COURSE, I downloaded the complete Hitchhikers Guide series to my Kindle. Other things I've been reading on it include: The Help, Hunger Games, and Pillars of the Earth. I especially liked Hunger Games, and Pillars. Both were real page turners. Hunger Games was science fiction, Pillars was historical fiction.

Hi Ellen, it appears these e-books are becoming very popular all over.
Holds upto 3,000 books? That'll save a lot of shelf space.
Hope all is well with you, see ya soon.

Well done, Ellen! Hubby bought me a kindle the other week. I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice, before I make a purchase on it

lil xx

Sony reader here, can store fewer books but enough for my needs.
So far I've only read free ebooks from the public domain, plus the files friends sent me.

I'm waiting for a friend's book to be on sale, though. I'll then try to do my first purchase.

Kindle???


New one on me!!!



GT

I'll stay with paper, thanks.

Mind you, it would make my house a lot more spacious...

I've entertained the idea of getting an e-reader, if only for books I'm not 100% sure I'll keep. It would be nice to save on some shelf space. But what's the likelihood of wandering into a small bookshop and finding some random, intriguing e-book? So I won't be giving up on paper for the most part.

If/when a reader becomes available for under $100, I may grab one just for those titles I'm recommended but don't need to keep. E-books are still more expensive than paperback (especially used) so it won't save much money... but 3,000 titles *is* a lot of shelf space.

Fun to hear what exactly you're reading, though!

So am I!

You can't beat paper for books.

Searching for passages in a number of books for cross-referencing purposes would be easier IMHO than selecting different numbers of 'windows', if you can do that with a 'Kindle'?



GT

Just wanted to add- I found "Pillars of the Earth" in PB at a garage sale some years ago and really enjoyed it. I know I still have it, buried somewhere amongst all the other paperbacks...

I don't suppose you'd loan me the Kindle, would you Ellen? I have 18 or so hours of train riding ahead on the morrow ...

But books do furnish a room*






*[Anthony Powell-A Dance to the Music of Time]

Even if you don't have the space for shelves and classic tomes, there is really nothing like the feel of the book as you immerse yourself into what-ever times and lands they take you. Even free on-line ones that I find, reading them from a screen feels a bit hollow and empty somehow

I really really like the look of the kindle, and there are enough free books available to make me happy.

However, I like to own books. I like to smell them (come on - I am NOT the only book sniffer round here, surely?)

And I just love browsing bookshops - I do a fair bit of that on online booksites, but it's just not the same. In fact I was in Foyles yesterday and came away with an armful (and i only went in to get a free bookmark.)

Bel - where do you get your free books for the Sony? Project Gutenberg? Do they d/l ok?

There are a number of nice independent booksellers around my area (or at least close to it)- new, used or both. I love browsing, at one in particular, where books are roughly sorted by genre but shelved two or three rows deep and stacked up in teetering towers all over the place. If you find anything there, it's pure serendipity. And every time I've set foot in that place, I've come out with at least a half dozen, most of which have been on my "To Read" list. I also love finding something totally random which I've never heard of and then enjoying it thoroughly.

E-readers are expected to dip in price a bit around Christmas so maybe then I'll look at an inexpensive one.

Sho- I sniff books, too. I love the smell of a new one, but I especially love the smell of a well-preserved old one.

Sho, yes, I get my free ebooks from Project Gutenberg.

not sure what you mean by d/l.

They have nearly 20,000 books to choose from, with many more being prepared. You often have the choice between various formats, I've recently seen they now cater for Kindle, too (I download the epub format).

sorry, Bel - d/l = download

my dad has one and I need to be able to explain to him via my mum how to get something off Gutenberg in words that someone who has no idea about computers can understand

I'll mosey on over there and take a look

PC - I recently switched my book-buying tactic. I usually go to UK once a year for about a week, and during that time I visit as many bookshops as possible. But the small ones are vanishing and the chains all sell the same thing (and lots of the same thing by different people) and it drives me mad. (I would prefer bookshops to start with their shelving by the door: authors from A-Z through the shop without any "genre" sorting.)

So I started to go to charity shops and just see what I could get. Got a fair few of my Bernard Cornwells like that, replaced some books I've lost, and generally picked up things that looked interesting (and often are). Plus some money goes to charity, which is good.

(this time, however, it was mostly new books or from commercial 2nd hand shops - but the books are really fab)

'A perfect treat must involve a visit to the second-hand bookshops.' - Virginia Woolf

Hi Sho!

Did you manage to get to any s/h bookshops in London??


GT

oh Ivan - that's great

I got a mug too

http://www.afternoah.com/images/item_thu_34726.jpg

I always thought of myself as a "paper-books-are-better" kind of person too, but now that I have my eReader, I'm really sold on it. Browsing the Kindle store is not so very different from wandering around a bookstore, only you don't get the exercise. It is very helpful to me that you can download free samples of almost any book available. This has kept me from buying some books I thought I wanted, until I read a chapter. Conversely, I'm more willing to give unknowns a try, since I can sample them first. Of course, art books and children's books are better enjoyed in color, so I will still buy those in paper.