Kindle

My wonderful Aniki got me a Kindle for Christmas. I love it. And I hate it. But mostly, I don't have the self-control for it.

Last week, I spent my Thursday through Saturday reading 'A Game of Thrones' the first of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. It's absorbing. If it weren't for my class/lab/work/volunteering obligations I probably wouldn't have slept, ate, or left my room until the book was done.

To some extent that's just how I am with novels which is why I watch a lot of TV. I can turn a show off and come back to it a few days later, no problem. But with novels I end up in a "keep reading until the words blur on the page" sort of situation. This habit is fine with 200-300 page Discworld novels (which are very light reading), but becomes quite problematic with 700 page complex monstrosities of political intrigue like the Song of Ice and Fire series. (Also series are bad because I hate cliffhangers. I must know what happens. Now. D'you hear me? NOW!)

And this is where the horrors of the Kindle come back in. For some unknown reason my eyes don't get tired reading it. Maybe it's because it's so light that I don't get tired physically holding the book open/up. Or maybe it's because of how I size the pages. Or maybe it's some evil Amazon magic. I don't know. But what I do know is that I can read for like 10 hours straight with no problem. And by straight I mean no food, no water, no peeing, and very little moving. Other than clicking to the next page every minute or so and occasionally rolling over I might as well be a statue.

I wish I could read textbooks with this kind of fervor.

Anyway, the lack of sleep and complete disregard for hygiene that I experience when reading is not even the worst part. What's bad is that I have to continue my hermit-y ways for a few days after I'm done reading in order to make up for all the work I didn't do. I think I spend 2 days doing homework for every day I spend reading. *sigh*

I should name my Kindle so that I can curse it more effectively...