New Year, New Toys

I received a Kobo e-reader as a gift a few years ago, and I even took a library course on how to borrow e-books. I was clearly too old for this technology because it went back to the store. Whereas my friends had been reading books on their computers, tablets, e-readers and other devices, I couldn't get used to the idea. I liked real books. In fact, I have a pocketbook collection of items amassed from thrift shops. These cost about fifty cents and I can take with me wherever I go and leave them behind or return them to thrift shops for resale when I'm done. Besides that, if I've read them before which I often discover once I get to about the second chapter, it's no loss. That's my rationale. No charging of batteries, no internet, no shopping for e-books online, no worries.

Last January or thereabouts, I found myself complaining about my new Samsung Galaxy cell phone. I said things like, "I'll never use it for anything but telephoning and texting." I complained that phones are too small to play games, check Facebook, email, watch movies and the like. I am eating my words....well, except for the movies although I must confess I've watched a few youtube videos.

For this year, at Christmas, I was given a Kindle. I appreciate the gift. Lots of people seem to have them. Many say they love them. Apparently, you can store and take fifty books or more on vacation with you on this device. If I had time to read fifty books, I wouldn't need a vacation, but that's another story. In the past, I've been fortunate to have completed one or two pocket books while on holidays. Nonetheless, I feel that I will give it a try, particularly since there's some kind of light up, reading in the dark under the bed covers feature...like when we were kids and had flashlights and...well, books.

I've been a bit busy and haven't "played" with the Kindle too much yet. I charged it last night. I figured out which of the buttons actually turns it on. I even managed to scroll through a few instructions after I discovered that no amount of sliding my finger across the screen would cause anything to move. That's where I currently stand. I don't know basic information that every ten year old has in his/her repertoire. I have no idea how to connect to the internet to potentially purchase books. I don't know what to do to make the font different or in my case larger. I do not really know how to turn pages or make the screen brighter. Right now, my brain has not advanced any further than it was a few years ago. Will I be able to get books for fifty cents on this device?

So, hopefully, the Kindle will be like my cell phone, second nature by next January. We'll see. Anyone out there got any helpful hints?