Geek of the Week*: Kindle

After I get my fabulous new career going, and my husband is finally, "living the life to which he would like to become accustomed," I would love one of these:


It's the new Amazon Kindle, and boy is it pretty snazzy. It's also pricey.

Essentially, it's a portable reading device, with a Blackberry-like interface, a fancy new screen that reads just like paper (i.e. you can read in direct sunlight), and cellular wireless connectivity.

You purchase virtual books (about $9.99 for NY Times bestsellers) from Amazon, and they are sent to you wire-lessly in about one minute. Amazon also stores your purchases, protecting you from loss should your Kindle die.

Not enough? You also receive instant RSS feeds of top blogs, newspapers, and can subscribe to magazines via Kindle.

Amazon, are you listening? I have a cool idea! Partner with public libraries to make available all Kindle titles for rent ($1.00?) from your local public library. When the designated rental period is up, the file is removed from your Kindle file. Amazon gets a tax write-off, and libraries get a bit of needed revenue.

You can thank me later, Amazon. Or you can thank me now by sending me one of those fancy devices!

*Geek of the Week is an hommage to my high school days. I'll be featuring a new cool techie thing every week, now that Guy Kawasaki is my new BFF (second to you Heather!).

New Bookshelves!

We have lots of books. There are books everywhere in our apartment. Everywhere. Thanks to Barnes and Noble, we now have a useful and cool way to keep books by the bedside without them cluttering up the nightstand.



They are making me very happy!

By the way, is anyone reading/has read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? It's pretty brutal (brutally good, but I can't stop weeping, and I'm only on page 31). I don't know if I can bear to read it. I guess it's not surprising, but ever since having a child, I just can't bear to read books or watch movies where horrible things happen to parents and/or their children. The 35W bridge collapse gave me enough sleepless nights.

I am really enjoying, however, Annie Dillard's For the Time Being. She's a smart one, that Ms. Dillard.

Mr. Darcy

Attention all Pride & Prejudice fans. Have you seen these? I received this trilogy by Pamela Aidan for Christmas. They tell the story of Jane Austen's P&P from Mr. Darcy's perspective. They aren't my favorite books ever (from a writing standpoint), but if you love P&P as I do, you will really enjoy these. It's especially fun to see Mr. Darcy's reaction to Miss Elizabeth's rejection of his proposal, and his subsequent reformation of character.

Childhood Fiction Revisited

For some reason, ever since I discovered Harry Potter way back in '99, I've been addicted to young adult fiction. OK, mostly Harry Potter over and over and over, but I have ALSO been revisiting classics from my youth, and I'll be posting about them from time to time.

Right now I'm re-reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond,the 1958 Newberry Award Winner from Elizabeth George Speare. It seems that I received this book when I was in third grade; both my name and the words "Rm. 105" are written in a very studied cursive on the inside front cover.

Now for the story. In 1687, Kit Tyler, the recently orphaned girl of wealthy English landowners, sets sail for Connecticut from her home in Barbados. She is a complete fish out of water in Puritanical New England, but finds comfort in the friendship of an old Quaker woman, herself an outcast. It's part love story, part historical fiction, part mystery, and a beautiful, enchanting read.