Bostonista Loves: The Kindle

I’ve lately been in the downsizing mood. Changing apartments this spring satisfied my need to purge. A family yard sale soon after cleared out the rest of the old junk, including golf shoes (a nice thought); piles of costume jewelry, beanie babies, and cat toys; and the impulse-bought super deluxe grind ‘n’ brew coffee pot used once (a bitch to clean). I consign all clothes I haven’t worn in more than a year and recently downloaded all my CDs onto a hard drive and sold them off. I’m making an effort to keep the hoarding tendencies at bay.

But I haven’t quite been able to quit books. For one, it feels wrong. Two, I like having them around. I’ll buy a book I’m interested in as soon as I hear about it so that I don’t forget, which is why I’ve got piles and piles of high-quality unread books in my bedroom, office, and otherwise scattered throughout the house, and I still have imminent plans to purchase the tell-all by Madonna’s brother.

Enter the Kindle.

Recently, I received the Amazon Kindle as a birthday gift. It holds up to 200 books in a paperback-sized wireless device, and can receive daily newspapers, blog feeds (like ours), and e-newsletters. It works by cell connection, allowing users to browse from among the 145,000 titles in the amazon.com Kindle store while on the road, in the car, in bed. While it’s incredibly readable, with some sort of special screen viewable from any angle and easy to use commands, it doesn’t look like a book, or feel like a book.

It is, however, far lighter than a book, and fairly indestructible, too. For every ambitious vacationer who’s packed 4 hardcovers in a weekend bag, it’s a saving grace both for the back and for the books.

How many times have you dropped your copy of the Diana Vreeland autobio in the pool whilst lounging on a floatie? Or watched as high tide snacked your copy of God is Not Great? Or spilled your entire bloody Mary over yourself and all your paper books during a rocky ferry ride?

Or maybe that’s just me. In any case: Now I can wipe and go, ultimately spending less on books (most are $9.99 each, including new releases), wasting less on paper, and satisfying a roommate who seems to have had enough with my clutter habit.

Amazon Kindle, $359, amazon.com