Just in the past day or two I’ve decided that I want, no — need — an Amazon Kindle. It almost pains me to say this as a longtime reader and bibliophile but I just can’t justify spending money on new books any longer. Most are very expensive in Thailand and I simply can’t bear to part with the cash in the majority of cases. I was looking forward to buying a book today upon receiving my salary but in the end I just couldn’t do it. Six hundred baht is almost a week’s worth of groceries and dining out (I’d had my heart set on Lawrence Block’s The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries Volume One). Yet I have been amassing a huge collection of eBooks. I tend to read these much more slowly than traditional “tree” books as I can take those anywhere or lay in bed reading them. Since I sold my iPod touch earlier this year I read my eBooks on my laptop. With an eBook reader, I could take my collection with me.
A few months ago I thought that I’d like to purchase an iPad when the time came but have come to the realization that a good eBook reader is probably a better investment for me. For one thing, they are a lot less expensive than an iPad and I don’t really need all those crazy apps that tend to distract me as I play around on them and then search for more cool apps to download! No, I just need something that I can read my eBooks on. Being able to download new books, samples, RSS feeds, and email onto the Kindle is a nice touch as well. Really, everything I’ve read about the Kindle makes it sound like the one I’d like. The only disadvantage was the lack of page numbers — something that Amazon has remedied in it’s latest firmware release. They’ve also dropped the price of refurbished Kindles to as low as USD $99. That means that they are getting ready to release the fourth generation models; industry insiders are predicting that could happen as early as late September or early October. This fits in with my semi-formed plan to save and purchase one in time for either my birthday or Christmas…
Daily Writing Totals:
This Article – 162 words
Total Today — 550 words
Mark Joseph Jochim 
Can I ever relate to this post. I live in the mountains of western Panama and although there is a used bookstore about a half-hour bus ride away that will order new books for you reading English language books are few and far between.
I added Kindle for PC to my notebook which has been fine, but it’s not easy to use it lying in the hammock and the battery life pretty much sucks. I also subscribe to Audible.com and have a decent collection of books on my iPod and listen to them when riding on the buses.
I’ve been wanting to get an e-reader for a while now but trying to get one delivered down here is a monumental hassle since there is no home mail delivery in this country which means there are no real addresses. For example, on my electric bill, which is hand-delivered, the address says, “the two-story house near the health clinic.”
There are some gringos I know that could be classified as “snow birds” who will be coming back here in a few months and I was planning on having them bring me a Kindle. But that’s months away. I was delighted to see a note on one of the Yahoo groups that relate to my neck of the woods from someone who said they were coming down shortly and was there anything they could bring down from the States. I got in touch with the poster who will be visiting a pueblo not too far away and we made arrangements for him to bring a Kindle down for me. I ordered it and the gentleman emailed me two days ago that it had arrived. He will be in Panama next Tuesday and hopefully I’ll have my Kindle in hand Wednesday if at all possible. I can hardly wait.
Thank you so much for writing.
I am blessed to live in Phuket with a large number of bookstores — even most of the Thai shops will carry at least a few English-language titles. Outside of Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and possibly Udon Thani bookworms aren’t so lucky. I simply don’t know how I’d survive without the ability to download eBooks from time to time; I resisted the digital format for so long but am now embracing it wholeheartedly…