Tuesday, May 17: High-Heeled Gumshoe
KINDLED
by Melodie Johnson Howe
My son, Geoff, gave me a Kindle for Mother’s Day. His boss gave it to him for Christmas. He decided since he is loaded down with Apple this and Mac that he had no use for it. And now I have it. He spent the afternoon getting me connected. The reason it took an afternoon is that I could not remember any of my Amazon passwords or account numbers. I had them written down somewhere. My daughter, Erica, darted in out of my office giving Geoff and me instructions on how to handle the problem. My other daughter Kathy had a stiff neck and walked around like a zombie. When attempting to face one of us her entire body turned in unison as if she had no neck. By the end of day we were all walking around as if we were no- neck monsters.
Alone with my Kindle, I stared at it. I think I have the economy version, which has all the flash of a Mao suit or a Russian-made car. Its dour screen reminds me of the old Commodore computer from the eighties. I was unimpressed. I wrote a column , “Babble Books,” about my unease with the e-readers, so I wasn’t going to be easily awed anyway.
Last Friday I was reading Steve’s column about Malice Domestic where he mentioned Daniel Stashower. I clicked on his name and discovered his new non- fiction book, Beautiful Cigar Girl. It’s about the murder of a young woman and Edgar Allen Poe’s desperate attempts to use ratiocination to discover her killer. I thought I’d like to read that. I’ll get it the next time I go to the bookstore. Then I remembered the Kindle. It was lying on my desk like a blank stone tablet. I murmured, “hmmm,” and hit on Stashower’s name again, then clicked on Amazon, and up popped his book. In the corner of my screen was a little box that stated: Melodie’s Kindle. This immediately threw me back into my childhood and my father putting my name on my lunch box and adding a star to the end it.
Back in the present, I tapped on that little box and ten seconds later I had Stashower’s book on my Kindle. I admit to a thrill. Not an eye-popping thrill, but certainly a tingle of excitement. I mean, how easy was that? I began to order books as if another would never be written. Then I stopped. Reminding myself that this costs money and I had yet to see if I liked reading on this bleak contraption.
Finishing my writing for the day, I propped myself up in bed (my place for reading) got myself all comfy and picked up the Kindle. It was like holding a giant credit card instead of a book. But I maneuvered through to the first page and began to read. An hour later I looked up and realized I had been in Stashower’s world just as deeply if I had been reading the hardcover or paper back. Now I have to give most of the credit to the author and his fascinating subject matter.
Here is the major drawback to the Kindle as I see it. It is unyielding to hold. I am getting a cover for it, which I think, will make it easier. I love black and white. I wear a lot of black. I love black and white old movies. I even created a master detective who wore only black on one day and white on the other, alternating. (The Mother Shadow and Beauty Dies). But the Kindle’s black and white makes me feel as if I’m trapped in Ingmar Bergman’s film, The Virgin Spring, and I can’t get out of it. All color has been stripped. The artwork of the dust jackets is lost. The great illustrations on the covers of EQMM are a gray blur, which make me feel like I’m reading for the good of Mother Russia.
On the other hand, my screen saver displays delightful pictures of Mark Twain, Virginia Wolfe, Jules Verne and many more great authors instead of butterflies or psychedelic amebas.
The Kindle will not replace a book because it is nothing like one. But it is so damn easy that it almost makes me forget about my local independent bookstore. Almost.
Simple and fast, the Kindle is the perfect reading tool in this day and age of instant gratification and portability. Is something lost? Yes. When I pick up a book I have the weight of the author’s words in my hands. Opening a book, I am physically entering the author’s world. Turning each page I’m following the author deeper into his or hers imagination. I feel personally connected to the writer and the book. I have no sense of this intimacy on the Kindle. Will I stop reading on it? No.
I wonder what Mark Twain and Virginia Wolfe would think about being screen savers on an e-reader. I’m sure Jules Verne would say, “What’s the big deal?”
Interesting- we are thinking of getting some sort of reader for our small library as some of our patrons are eager to try them out.
In the long introduction to Twain’s recently published autobiography we learn that he and his publisher worked hard to make sure their contract covered WHATEVER form books might be published in in a hundred years. (Twain was confident – correctly so – that people would want to read his autobiography in a century.)
So I am sure Twain would be delighted by e-books. Remember too that he went bankrupt financing a new kind of typesetter…
I recently got an iPad and I adore it, although I haven’t tried reading a book on it yet, just webpages. I would never buy a Kindle because I don’t want to have to buy books from Amazon. With the other devices you can buy e-books through your local bookstores. As I have said before, Amazon doesn’t sponsor any author readings in my town.
I just put down my 4g Iphone. I’m reading my book club selection, The Road Home, a novel by Rose Tremain, on it. I must say I enjoy the ease and portability, but I always feels a little guilty. Am I undermining the bookstores that I love? Does this hurt the authors in some way? Should I be doing this? This is the 3rd or 4th book I’ve read on my Iphone and I know it won’t be the last. Alas, I think they have me.
There’s no doubt that reading e-books is convenient. I’ve read a few on my iPad, and I think I could get hooked if I let myself. One part of me WANTS to get hooked; my own latest book is available on Kindle, and I fully understand that it’s the way of the future. But (as I think I’ve said before) I still love the sight and feel and smell of real books in my hand, and I’m not sure I’d ever give that up completely.
I think we all feel the same way. An e-reader will never replace a book for those of us who love them.
Like Lenore I do feel guilty using my Kindle. BUt I will travel with it. And I have learned quickly that a book is easier to read at night in bed than the Kindle. My book light reflects off the screen.
>…non- fiction book, Beautiful Cigar Girl.
Compelled by an evil force, I have to wonder if this is about Bill Clinton’s little lady friend.
In an addendum to Rob’s comment about Twain and technology, I’ve read a couple of times that Clemens was the first author to submit a novel typed on a typewriter. It would take a few more steps to see the text on a screen.
Dare I say I love my Kindle? I can read anywhere: outside, inside, at the beach, at a picnic table. Oh, I can get a book from Smashwords, save it to my laptop using Kindle for PC and, then, download it to my Kindle (bypassing Amazon).
I love real books, too. They have some inherent advantages over e-readers, not the least of which is aesthetics (nothing like the smell of ink and paper) and physical memory—whenever I look for a passage I’ve already read, it is much easier to flip pages and scan than to find the damn thing using a search function. And books do not require a power source.
But all that aside, the important thing is that people read. What they read is nowhere near as important as the act itself. New technology always presents its challenges, as it does here. Turning pages in a book was a big step up from unrolling scrolls, after all—but the scrolls were pretty cool, too.
I went the Nook route and, I must say, I am addicted. I have insomnia many nights and I end up falling asleep (finally!) by reading. With the Nook when I finally nod off it remembers my place! Also, for me it is easier at night not to have to worry about turning pages. Another feature (at least on the Nook, and I assume on the Kindle) is that any book you are interested in you can get the first 20 pages of for free, to see if you like it. Finally, it is great on vacations, particularly if you (like us) have given up on checked baggage. These take no room at all! The one thing I miss is that the page is not back-lit on my black and white Nook, though it is on the color Nook that I gave Pat for Mother’s Day. Luckily Father’s Day is just around the corner.
James,
But will more people read fiction? It will be interesting to see.
The one thing I have learned in this short period of time. The Kindle and most e-readers are here to stay. And now having one I understand why.
>Amazon doesn’t sponsor any author readings in my town.
When you think about it, Rob, there’s every reason they shouldn’t– local bookstores would likely benefit. The company proved extremely aggressive (some argue unscrupulous) in their vertical integration of BookSurge and CreateSpace, locking out the competition wherever they felt they could.
Melodie, I think that as long as people read they will read stories. That hasn’t changed since the dawn of literacy.
Never too young to embrace new technology. My Dad got his first Kindle a few months ago and he just turned 83!