During my first two years in Singapore, I was faced with a reading problem. See, one of the things that I love most in the world is reading books. As long as I can remember, I am always with a book in hand. My favorite shop at the malls had always been National Bookstore where I would spend hours browsing on new paperbacks and looking through the rows and rows in the bookshelves. When a branch of Powerbooks opened at SM Megamall, I was ecstatic. There you could actually read on opened books on couches and specially designed reading areas. It was heaven for me.

When I came here, I lost the ability to read books. I was too occupied with the internet: watching my facebook timeline to see how my friends are doing, downloading my favorite movies and series, reading news articles online and reviewing amazing photos from around the world. There was no end with what you could discover and read, there was just too much to absorb. After work, without fail, I would be in front of my laptop typing away and looking for new website to devour. For the first time, the world around me was at my fingertips and my curiosity grew with each new discovery of how powerful the internet could be. This was how I lost time. Every single day, my whole attention was devoted to the internet, I was unable to do anything else. During those 2 years, I was still able to buy a lot of books. I would go to the bookstores whether at the malls or at the airport and buy one or two paperbacks that caught my attention. I would try to bring these books around, hoping that I would be able to read them during my coffee breaks or while waiting for the bus. That did not happen. And the reason was, I also had an iPhone with me wherever I go. And the iPhone was always connected to the internet via 3G. Instead of using my time to read when I’m away from my laptop, I would use all of my free time to browse the internet using my mobile. I would endlessly check facebook and twitter feeds, read through my favorite news sites or blogs whenever I’m on the move (either traveling or having coffee). My books remained in my bag, untouched after reading only a few pages.

After a while, I realized that my bookshelf was piling up with books which had barely been started. I accumulated a lot of new items which my old self would have found joyous just sitting on a couch emerging myself in their content. But that was not happening at all. I was consistently ignoring my purchases, focusing instead on internet contents and useless social networking sites. Once I realized what was happening, I felt that there’s a huge part of me that’s missing. And from that time on, I always felt the need to get it back.

The answer came when Den, a close friend of mine, bought a kindle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle). Initially, I thought that kindles would not work in Singapore. I knew that amazon.com do not have a retail presence here. I thought that to be able to use a kindle, you need to be able to buy the books online. That for me was quiet expensive to maintain plus I simply thought that it wouldn’t work here. When Den got her kindle, I asked her how to upload the book on the device. She said that she has ebooks files which she would just transfer to her kindle. I have lots of ebooks files which I got from my previous work. They’re all compiled on a CD. I got so excited that I quickly researched online about the kindle: user reviews, price, the usefulness of the device and how to get one from here. After a few weeks, I finally relented and bought one myself.

Amazingly, this little device instantly solved my reading problem. I guess the problem really is two-folds: 1. I don’t spend enough time for reading 2. The books that I tried to read did not really interest me. Once I learned the ins and outs of ebooks, I had hundreds even thousands of titles to choose from. I used the feedbacks from amazon.com and goodreads.com to select other readers’s recommendations. I perused google to search for my favorite book genre “tear jerkers”, “classics”, “young adult”, “fiction” and chose the best titles from hundreds of lists from different websites. I discovered new favorites and loved them: Hunger Games, The Millenium Trilogy and The Help and the list is still growing. I also got re-acquainted with old loves: John Grisham, Stephen King, Nicolas Sparks. My time was still limited: I read whenever I’m travelling in the MRT and in the bus. From our flat to work and back – it takes one hour each way. So that’s 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. Not bad. My kindle became my constant companion in the crowded MRT lines, during peak hours standing on a bus and during long ride home and during long flights. It never fail to keep my mind off from work and other things and transport me back in time to whatever land I’m currently reading about. Oh the joy of those hours where it’s just me and Kenny (I name my gadget and yes, for the kindle it was kenny) in our own little world.

I think the reason why the kindle works for me while books didn’t was because instead of carrying big bulk of books in my bag, I just have a half inch device perfectly fitted in my grasp. I also have a huge selection of ebooks, I could choose one book, from thousand others and with a little research and preview, I could measure how interesting the story would be. If I end up not liking the storyline after a few chapters, I could easily go to the next book in the queue without worrying that I spent several dollars to buy it. I also love the e-ink technology in the kindle, it does not have an lcd monitor glare. Unlike the iphone which makes me dizzy after a few minutes of reading, I could read and read on a moving train without having migraine in the end.

My review of the kindle: 5 Stars

I have the kindle 3rd Generation wifi version: its really just perfect! Amazon just released a new version, Kindle Fire. After reading about its specs, I am still biased and keeping my original kindle and definitely not upgrading.