Monday, January 24, 2011

Kindle Lending and New Book Acquisition

I'm currently reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer and it is wonderful.  I'll have a post about the first half of the book at some point this week.  I just need to gather my thoughts.  But in the meantime, here are a couple other random topics.

When I started seriously thinking about getting an eReader (versus whining to Boyfriend about how I couldn't decide if I should get one at all) one of the features I liked on the Nook was that you could lend out books.  I don't know how often I'd be able to use that feature but I like having the option.  Plus I will be way less anal when lending out digital copies of books because I don't have  to worry about getting the book back all bent up or something got spilled on it, etc.  The Nook advertised the lending capabilities but the Kindle was quiet about it.  I ended up going with the Kindle anyway but was a little sad to miss out on lending.  And then I heard mummers that the Kindle did have lending abilities or at least they'd be coming soon.  If they were out before I didn't see anything about it, but it's definitely available now.  Thanks to The Book Stop who provides me with lots of Kindle updates, she's confirmed not only that you can lend but provides links to explain how you can do this lending and she includes a website where you can borrow books from other people for no cost, and lend your books out risk free.  Exciting times.

Even having the Kindle I still find I go for actual books more often than not.  At least I keep buying them.  Yesterday I was meeting up with some friends for lunch. I gave myself plenty of time to get to the restaurant because I needed to take the T, which is always a dangerous proposition. I gave myself 45 minutes to get there. I got there in 15 minutes. It was equally likely it would have take an hour and 15 minutes to get there.  Such is the T. Anyway I had at least 30 minutes to kill (my friends and I are perpetually late) but lucky me the BU Barnes & Noble* was right there.  I wandered around looking at books and then going "No, I can't pick up more.  I need to wait until I make it through the books I just bought some.  Wait." I talked myself out of a couple books but I did end up getting one: A Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks.  I know, it's nerdy.  But you know what?  I'll be prepared when you're all being eaten.**

*This is really a pretty B&N, especially the upper floors.  They have these little nooks and crannies to explore.
**I'm going to be eaten too. I'm far too clumsy to get away from something even as ungainly as a zombie.