A fine toy

Sometimes you have to own something in order to realize you wanted it in the first place. I'm talking about my new Amazon Kindle. (Thank you John, you buy the best presents!) Everything says the age of the e-book has begun, and the world's books will be available at the click of a mouse. I was thinking about that this weekend, weeding dusty shelves and hauling 10 bags down to Half Price Books, where they gave me a paltry $78. And I hardly made a dent in our collection; I wonder if Kindle will change our buying habit?

But indeed, why spent $20 plus for the latest fiction? I just bought Anne Tyler's new novel for $9.99 on my Kindle, and Amazon made it slick and easy. The only bad thing is I can't pass a book along to Dave or Amanda. But the Kindle reading experience is fine, just different. I think your brain has "learn" that this slip of plastic is a real book. Nova's generation will know nothing else.

Google has quietly been copying millions of out-of-copyright books in an enormous on-line archive, prompting angst and lawsuits from publishers and author's guilds. That said, the most amazing thing I've done so far with Kindle is purchase the compete works of William Shakespeare for 95 cents plus tax. In a few seconds, there it was. Amazon makes many other classics a completely free download. When I was a literature major, way back when, I could have bought student food for a month with what I paid for the Penguin Complete Works of Shakespeare. That costly book was precious, and over the years it's survived many spring book purges. The jury is still out on the Kindle.