If you follow Dine & Dish at all, you know I love to read. For today’s Simplify Saturday I’m telling you about the Kindle Paperwhite… a wonderful little e-reader that has simplified the way I read books.
Let me preface this post by saying I have tried and owned numerous e-readers before. We have one of the original Kindles, a second Kindle (my husbands), a Kindle Fire (my sons), a Nook and the Kindle app on the iPad. Until getting the Kindle Paperwhite, I really wasn’t a fan of e-books. I enjoyed the convenience of being able to download an e-book whenever I needed one but reading on the devices I listed just didn’t feel natural to me. I didn’t like the flow, layout, functionality of the other devices. Plus, I found with the devices that were more than just e-readers (Kindle Fire and iPad apps) I would get too distracted by the other apps and things on the devices, which would cut into the time I would spend reading. Even with all of those devices on hand, I found myself turning back to “real” books instead of my e-reader.
So, how has the Kindle Paperwhite simplified my reading?
First of all, (as you can see from the picture above) I love the ability to instantly download books onto my device. While synced to a wireless network, I can order and download any Kindle book on Amazon in the matter of seconds. This means when I’m done with one book and still in the mood to read, I can quickly browse the Amazon store and get a new book quickly.
While I’m reading through a book on my Kindle Paperwhite, I have the ability to highlight and mark passages I want to remember for later. Then, I can choose “View Notes and Marks” within my book menu and those passages come up on a separate screen. This comes in especially handy for writing book reviews or for discussing a book at book club. I can remember the important information I want to from a book with a simple click of a button.
One of my favorite features of the Kindle Paperwhite is the soft back lighting. My husband gets up for work early, and goes to bed earlier than I do. I can still read in bed while he’s asleep without a bright light turned on bothering him. In addition, unlike my iPad, I can read my Kindle Paperwhite with ease out in the bright sun. The font and screen resolution on this e-reader is really easy on my eyes.
The Kindle Paperwhite is small and light… it fits easily in my purse so I can take my favorite books wherever I go. Since getting the Paperwhite in the fall, I have read more than ever simply because I always have books with me.
One last thing… as much as I really love the touch and feel of books, I didn’t like the fact that our book collection was starting to take over our house. With the Kindle Paperwhite, all of our e-books are stored in our library in “the cloud” so we don’t have physical books cluttering up the space in our house.
Before I give the snippets I have to give a shout out to Lina from the Lina’s Stich Etsy store for making my lovely Kindle Paperwhite cover. Isn’t it pretty?
If you are looking for a reasonably priced e-reader with a simple to use interface in a compact size, I highly recommend the Kindle Paperwhite. It’s the only e-reader I’ve had that I love as much as books.
Kindle Paperwhite Snippets
- Purchase the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader through Amazon for $119
- Did I mention the 8 week battery life? I rarely have to charge mine!
- Holds up to 1,100 books
- Amazon Prime members can enjoy even more benefits with a Kindle Paperwhite, including a wide selection of free / quality e-books and lending library books. (Amazon Prime really is the best thing since sliced bread!!)
So, what about you? Do you use an e-reader? If so what kind? If not, why has held you back?
This is not a sponsored post. I have a Kindle Paperwhite and love how it simplifies my life and just wanted to share that with you!
Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I’m still fighting the ebook revolution Kristen. I thought I would get into it when I got my iPad, but so far no. I’m like you, too distracted to just read on iPad…
If I ever get a kindle, this will be the one I get. You’ve convinced me, I love the backlight feature, that it’s light & that case is pretty sweet 🙂
Books have completely taken over our house. I try really hard to remind myself it’s not a terrible thing. 🙂
Books taking over your house is not a terrible thing… I love the look and feel of books (and let’s face it, it’s so much prettier taking a picture of a book than a kindle) but I really love this little device. For the price too, it’s one of my favorite things, ever 🙂
I think I’m a rare breed. I’ve always been a voracious reader so reading on paper books was fine with me …until I got my first Kindle. I adore my kindle for all of the points that you mentioned above – ease of bringing hundreds of books with me, ease of buying a book and getting it almost instantly etc.
As a book blogger I also love my kindle because its an easy way to get Advanced Reading Copies from publishers (via NetGalley). Within seconds of requesting a certain book to review its sent ‘magically’ to my kindle. I also adore the fact that I can makes notes and highlight passages which makes reviewing a lot easier.
Amazon makes finding and exploring their site for ebooks fun and so easy. I often surf their store on my kindle. The same cannot be said for kobo’s site as my kids, who have kobos, unfortunately have found out.
While I don’t have a kindle Paperwhite I’m happy to hear that Amazon has continued to improve their technology (specifically their battery life). Currently I read on my Kindle in bed, while my hubby slumbers beside me, wearing the ever so vogue and oh so sexy …. headlight. Perhaps a backlit Paperwhite is on my near future. 🙂
Ohhhh a headlight does sound quite sexy 🙂
You bring up a great point about ARC’s from publishers. I hadn’t thought about that.
If you love your current Kindle, you would really love the paperwhite 🙂
I have a second gen Kindle and now a Nook Color. I can say that I agree that the tablets that have other capabilities definitely distract you from reading… Words with Friends and Angry Birds are tooo tempting! I still use both e-readers. I keep my Kindle in my purse (it has a lighted cover so it’s great for nights in the car) so I always have something to read with me and use my Nook at home. Now that I have learned how to borrow e-books from the library I am totally obsessed with reading! I love the batter life of the Kindle versus the Nook Color but I can use the Nook to browse recipes online and use it in the kitchen instead of my laptop since it takes up less space and if it hits the floor less costly to repair/replace.
The color feature of the Nook is a definite plus. I recently bought The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook on my Kindle and it’s just not the same. Reading magazines and cookbooks is something I do prefer doing on my iPad or Kindle Fire.
I’m glad I’m not alone in the tablet ADD department 😉 I have no ability to focus when other distractions are around!
I got a Kindle Fire HD for Christmas and I’ve been really surprised as how much I’ve been using it. The convenience of downloading books instantly has been a double-edged sword for me, however, since it’s quite easy to put lots of charges on my credit card in a very short time 🙂 Overall, I give it an A+ for convenience, but still…there’s just something about holding a paper book that I’m not quite ready to give up.
Hi Lana. I had the same problem of my poor charge card to amazon was crazy and a friend told me of a web site called pixelofink,com everyday they send a letter with book offers and there are always 4 free books recommended, plus others at a discount. A lot of times they are the first book of a series or an authors first book and I have developed a library on my kindle of so many good authors I didn’t know for free. Then I pay attention to the sales on amazon and for 99 cents to under $5 I can usually buy more books by the new authors I have enjoyed. Hope this helps as I read a book every couple of days especially at these prices
I wanted a Kindle-ish device but my husband makes apps for Apple products. He bought me an iPad Mini instead. I love being able to download any book at want at any moment but it is hard to read in the sun.
I love my Kindle, it is such a great product and provides so many different forms of entertainment. Thanks for the post!
I have Kindle Touch. I absolutely love it. it’s bought an amazing reading adventure to my every day life. i’ts light, cute, for a reasonable price and just sooo good!