The Kindle seems to be a really great invention. I dislike reading on the computer screen generally, but the Kindle does not feel like I'm doing that. It's very easy on the eyes. Feels like I'm reading a...well, a BOOK!

But one thing irks me a bit. As I look at prices of books for Kindle, I'm dismayed by the level on many of them. I looked at Coben's latest (LIVE WIRE) and was thinking that it should be somewhat cheaper than what I paid in HC at Costco (about 16 bucks). And it is...but in this case "somewhat" is about 3 bucks. I want to say the price was $12.99? I could be off, it may have been higher.

Michael Connelly's books are also pricey in this format. I want to say they are about the same as Coben's. I think most of the best selling authors are right up there. So why would I buy them when I can buy something physical? I mean, I can't resell or donate my Kindle book far as I know. I'm sure someone will set up a system for donating Kindle books to libraries and such, but at this point it isn't easy. So no tax write-off. No stock for my future (probably only-in-my-dreams) used bookstore. If it's only gonna cost me a couple extra dollars to get the physical copy I probably am going that direction.

Now I suppose it's worth something to have your books, like your music, at your fingertips. But so far I can still read only one book at a time. Well, sometimes I manage two or three, but usually I wouldn't travel with all three, and wouldn't have time to read them anyway while on vacation. Two paperback books, a few minutes before bed and on the plane, are adequate for most vacations. And I can usually find a paperback book in the collection or at a bookstore to try. You get those Borders coupons for 40% off one read, and use them on a paperback, and you're getting the thing for under 5 bucks!

It's also worth something to clean up the clutter a bit. Mount TBR keeps growing, and it threatens to overwhelm the space allocated to my reading habit. This issue might become more important in the near future. But right now, I still have an attraction to actually owning, actually looking at the spines of books on my shelves.

Anyway, I looked a little further. Cory Doctorow is an author I want to experience more of. But checking on Amazon for his book FOR THE WIN, I noted that it will cost me 10 bucks to get it for Kindle, or 7 something for a hardcover. Now, of course, I have to put together a couple more books or dvds or cds to get the free shipping, but how hard could that be? (Not very, not for me at least.)

The books that I'm more tempted to buy on it are the books by authors I'm not that familiar with, or by authors like Tim Pratt where the physical copy was far too expensive for me to justify buying it. ($19.00 for BONE SHOP was just too much.) There are some indie authors out there whose books I just might be trying more of on Kindle. But I probably won't be using it for those bestseller authors like Coben, Connelly, Deaver, CJ Box, or a myriad of others.

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