Advice: Enter the Kindle

I promised myself...

...that I wouldn't overload my suitcase with books whilst heading to and from and around the United States. I learned this lesson the hard way simply travelling from uni in Norfolk to home in N. Yorkshire. THE WEIGHT. OH DEAR GOD THE WEIGHT. You see: I love books. Like, with a burning passion of a billion exploding suns. So much do I like books that I sometimes worry that my family is planning an intervention to save my room's cupboards and bookshelves. Big surprise that I study two forms of literature, right? Oh ho. But after lugging a kit-bag full of books for my essays across counties via two trains...I always manage to sap the already tiny amount of strength I have from myself to the point where, once I've reached home, my arms are about as useful as two empty socks. So I really, really don't want to be lugging it around the States with a bag that is mostly weighed down by books. SO HOW DO I AVOID THIS?

TIP #1 - Enter the Kindle

In my (hopeful) attempts to not be weighed down by the books I'll be studying in the US, I got a Kindle Touch. YES. I betrayed the paperback traditionalists and bought one of the sworn enemy: the electronic book. Or 'THE SCOURGE,' as they're widely known. No, they're not. I lied just then. I think... I was not wow'd or amazed when these devices came into being. I actually died a little inside. And I do still buy paperbacks, as I'll get to in a bit, BUT I'll explain why I'm going to recommend you buy the Kindle first. As le aspiring author (not French), the idea of any future projects being pushed into electronic format ONLY makes me not want to write anything ever, but sometimes you need to embrace things you're not 100% about to better understand them, right? And I needed a Kindle. Why? Well, as this post has already revealed I am no Goliath. Therefore, if I have to study 20+ books, I cannot carry them all. And outside of RPGs I am an awful merchant. The only answer really in my case would be a Kindle - buy the books I need, store them on my device, backed up by the PC program you can download via amazon, and to buy them quickly and easily, without waiting for WAY-AY-AY-ATE MISTURR POSTMAAAHN. But I am also picky. I wear contact lenses as I am short-sighted. As such I am cursed with eyeaches and headaches like you wouldn't know. Bright screens are not my forte, and no one likes reading page after page of pdf on a PC screen. Or Mac. If you're that way inclined.  I had seen other e-readers and been immediately struck by the OH GOD THE LIGHT THE PAIN THE LIGHT omen that usually emits from them. So I was very GET THAT AWAY FROM ME whenever anyone mentioned the damn things. But the Kindle thankfully doesn't have this issue.

In which I explain the madness

• Without using too much technobabble - which as a student who adores science fiction but sort of laughs and awkwardly leaves the room when people attempt to teach science FACTS with maths and physics and other subjects I am allergic to - I'm gonna give you the mercy of not reading my long-winded attempts to translate what I read online by stating simply: it uses e-ink. Basically, it uses an ink technology - not LED/back-lighting type STUFF you get on laptops and-- ...Somewhere some science type is laughing at me. Look online if you don't understand, goddamn it. *sighs* Long story short, it isn't lit. As such it doesn't burn the old retinas when you read it for long period of time as it emits no light. Yes, like a book it means you need to shuffle up to the nearest lamp during an evening, but in terms of long-term reading (i.e. reading a book for 5+ hours) it strains the eyes as much as a print version. So yay: no tired eyes after one hour of reading.
•  The device does not over-heat. Yeah, crazy. But also means that the product has some level of longevity to it. I.e. won't burst into flames just as you're about to find out who the Man with the Twisted Lip is. BECAUSE THAT HAPPENS.
• Store access is crazy fast and easy - immediately showing you what books are on Kindle. And there's LOTS. They're also very cheap usually, and if you study primarily the Classics or anything below 1940, you can get full collections of an author's work (e.g. Shakespeare or Wilde) for around £1-£2 - if they're not free. BEAUTIFUL PRICING.
• Huge amount of space. You can have hundreds and hundreds of books. I'm not kidding. 
• Everything is backed up automatically - lose your data or Kindle? You should be able to find the books you bought on your amazon account.
• The device and downloadable/optional PC program remembers what point you last read was, so if you fancy reading on your PC for a bit and then go back onto your Kindle, it'll know where you were. Nice!

But there are some faults:

• Internet access is a little awkward at times and a little too discreetly hidden away. I found internet access by accident. YEAH. /I totally read the manual... The internet once on is very simplistic - it's in black and white just as the Kindle always is (it can't magically change screens, duh~), but for text-based websites this is fine. And facebook is accessible too. BUT some sites cause the device to crash or stick. And this can be irritating. I get the feeling the crashes are caused by adverts online, Watson... It eventually sorts itself out in about a minute or two but, when it freezes, the simplicity of the device means there's little you can do to get around it but wait until it snaps back into life. Also you can't watch videos on it. /obvious fact is painfully obvious. If you're wanting it to use like an Ipad...I think you need to have another look at what a Kindle ACTUALLY IS. Yeesh.
• Not all books have page numbers listed but they all locations and percentages. It seems odd that many Kindle editions are devoid of page numbers (which can be seen when one accesses the drop down menu, but I won't go into the controls of the device now), and many Kindle-only editions have only the percentage of the book read (which is present at all times and useful if not weird at first), and the code-like locations. If I need to reference such books in an essay I'll have to find a way around that. Also some books seem to have page location errors - such as my edition of R. R. Martin's 'Clash of Kings' seems to think all pages after 41 are...page 41. (Though this does not damage your reading of the book or the syncing process at all.)

I could list a lot more things but I am not a technology expert and plan only on mentioning all this as a tip to the travelling literature student. A-thank-you.

To close this chapter...

I have the Kindle Touch, as aforementioned, and at £109 it's not badly priced at all. Wi-fi access and tons of storage means that I can avoid the weedy-arm-syndrome a little whilst travelling. I know at some point I'll be forced to buy a book or more due to them being unavailable on the Kindle, but, library and future friends allowing, I might be able to borrow more than buy (as I know many do at universities anyway). I adore paperbacks, and I still buy them - I bought a travel-book today in fact! - but I also know that they'll be a huge weight off my suitcase and carry-on luggage. I am happy carting around the odd guidebook and books I can safely hide away in my suitcase for long-haul but if I can reduce the number of books by carrying around a Kindle, well, I'm convinced. I recommend them for literature students. And don't worry if you feel like you're betraying the cause. It's a good way for you to lug around all those books they force you to buy, and often at a discounted price. You can still buy books in store and I urge you to anyway. My dying shelves might hate my saying this, but a world of just electronic books would be a sad one. So to wrap up this long-winded post, the Kindle could be the perfect travelling companion for any bookworm or student off across the pond or indeed anywhere. In fact, I carry mine with me nearly every time I go out, just in case I want to read something and not sure what. So swallow the pride, even if just temporarily, fellow book connoisseurs and marvel at the retained upper-body strength you will save!

-G~