I have always been an avid reader – since I can remember being able to read, I devoured books, labels, pamphlets, anything to keep the busy little mind occupied.

I love books, I love the tactileness of them, the smell of them, the experience of them.  And I vowed that I will never throw over regular books for e-books.  But honestly, when Amazon revealed the release for their Kindle here in the UK, I spoke in depth to Mark about our needs and we agreed to buy one.  And now we’re waiting to have it shipped.  *refreshes the inbox*

I read the excellent David Hewson’s blogpost yesterday about why he bought a Kindle and to be honest, his reasons are mine too.

1.  Download books on the go to read, along with free teaser chapters to see if it’s something I would like to read.

2. I can have 3000 books at my fingertips if I so wish.

3.  I can upload my manuscript and friends’ manuscripts to read / critique chapters to it and using the qwerty keyboard I can make comments on it on the go.

4.  It is tiny, this means it can easily fit into luggage and I won’t have to worry about lugging around ten books or more with me on holiday.

5.  It makes life easier for publishers – especially the few publishers from the States – that we deal with at MFB.  Instead of a heavy and pricey ARC, we can be sent a kindle-friendly document to upload and use to review the book. Again, I can make notes on the manuscript for my own reference.

6.  I no longer have to print off reams and reams of paper for my own research for my writing.  I can carry it with me – handily tucked away in the Kindle.  I love the aspect of this.

I am looking forward to sharing with you my thoughts once the Kindle is here.  I want to see if it makes a difference in the way I both write and review.