I Love My Kindle App!!

I've been a voracious reader my entire life...literally for as long as I can remember. When I was 3 1/2 years old, my brother started Kindergarten and he began bringing home those little beginning reading books. I picked one up, opened it, and discovered I could read it! From that day on, I was hooked. I read everything I could get my hands on.

A few weeks before my birthday last December, I began dropping some not-so-subtle hints to Bethany and Brad about the gift I wanted. I wanted a Kindle. Never one to leave things to chance, I ordered myself a Kindle from Amazon.com about a week before my birthday. It actually came in a couple days early, but I didn't let myself open it until the big day. When I finally got to open the box, I was soooo excited. My first book I read on my Kindle was "Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall. What a great book! I had some idea what it was about, but didn't realize the storyline included a cancer journey, so it really hit close to home. I'm a "chain reader", so as soon as I finished that book, I started another one..."The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck and Jason Wright. Another good one.

I carried my Kindle with me everywhere, and proudly showed it off to my family at Christmas time. When I showed it to my sister-in-law, she said, "Oh yeah, I got the free Kindle app on my iPhone." Talk about bursting my bubble! She got it for free?? Hmmmmm. I did a little research and discovered I could still return my Kindle to Amazon (I had had it less than 30 days), and get an iPod Touch for about the same price. And with an iPod Touch, I could not only download the free Kindle app, I could use our home Wifi signal and surf the internet, check my email, look at Facebook, etc. So I lovingly boxed up my Kindle and sent it back to Amazon.

A few days later, I got my iPod Touch, downloaded the FREE Kindle app, and was back in business. I just and counted them up this evening, and since that time, I've read 97 books! I do most of my reading as I'm walking on a treadmill in the morning...and believe me, electronic books are MUCH easier to read on a treadmill than real books. I also take advantage of every time I'm sitting in the car waiting for Bethany to come out of basketball practice, and usually read a little bit in bed at night. The Kindle app is backlit, unlike a regular Kindle, so it's easy to read in bed without bothering anyone else. I've been blessed with the ability to read really fast, so it doesn't take me long to blow through a book.

My most recent book was "Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope" by Mary Beth Chapman. It's the story of her life as the wife of recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman and the journey their family has been on since the death of their youngest daughter Maria. Maria was tragically killed in their driveway when she was struck by a car driven by her older brother. Mary Beth shares their struggles and victories with remarkable openness and honesty. I could relate to her story on so many levels. Once I started reading it, I could hardly put it down. It was truly a blessing to read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has lost a loved one, particularly a child.

I also recently read The Hunter Games trilogy. I don't often read secular books, because I prefer to read from a Christian worldview, but this series had been recommended to me, and the concept intrigued me. Wow! Once I got started on this series, I had a hard time thinking about anything else. I'm not normally much of a fantasy fan, but I was completedly sucked into Panem, and the arena, and the lives of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. It was an amazing read; but I did find the view of life and death somewhat depressing. Death (and there was lots of it) was just the end...there was nothing else. How incredibly tragic that would be!

I've kind of gotten into watching Dancing With the Stars this year, so when I saw Kurt Warner's book "First Things First" as a free Kindle download, of course I had to get it. I started it this morning on the treadmill, and I think it's going to be a good one, too.

If you're a reader, I'd love to hear from you. Tell me what you're reading now, or what you've read that's good. I've started a list over in the right hand column so you can see what I'm reading (or what I've just finished). Whenever I run across something particularly good, I'll let you know!