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I have had my Kindle for a year now, and it’s changed my reading habits in ways I did not anticipate.

I have always been a fast reader, but in the last few years, the number of books I’ve read each year has really fallen off.  My life is busier and more complicated, and it’s harder and harder to find time to read.  I’ve never been good about using interstitial time — those times while you are waiting for the water to boil, or someone to tie their shoes, or the car to be brought out from the shop — for reading.  Sure, I always used to read at the doctor’s office, but not at the gym while waiting for my husband to emerge from the locker room.  Now, I read constantly.  I use the Kindle’s text to speech feature with the volume off at the gym as an automatic page-turner.  I use it with the volume on when I fold laundry or commute to work — the robot voice reads to me.  I sometimes read a chapter while eating lunch at work.  I read a few screens in long lines at the grocery store.  I read before bed.  I read when I wake up a bit too early.

I’ve also started reading like a chain-smoker smokes — I finish one book and immediately start the next, because it’s right there.  I never used to do this because my books were all over the house — I might finish a book in the bedroom, but the next one I want to read is downstairs in the living room.  That doesn’t happen any more.  I think I also read faster on the Kindle — the non-reflective screen, the e-Ink, and the faster-than-a-paper-book page turns all make for a more frictionless reading experience for me.

All this has increased how much I’ve been able to read.  I read 75 books in 2011.  That’s 1.4 books per week.  In November, I read a high of 7 books in a month — which is not surprising, since I spent a week at the beach in November.  In January, I read a low of 3 books — again, not a surprise, since I read the Count of Monte Cristo that month, which is quite long.  Overall, I’ve read about 20-25 books more this year than I have in the last few years.  And that doesn’t account for all the long form articles I’ve read on my Kindle, via Instapaper and Kindle Singles.

I’ve also explored genres I wouldn’t normally read because of the Kindle.  In the past, I’ve stuck to known genres:  science fiction, mystery, non-fiction.  I haven’t liked to spend a lot of money on books, and I don’t like browsing in the library, so limiting myself to those genres means a quick in-and-out to the library.  But the Kindle has changed that.  There are a lot of reasons for that.  I can browse and sample books while watching television or listening to music, all comfy and snug at home.  There’s no book jacket, so no one can tell I’m reading a romance novel.  Many books are cheap ($3.99 or less) so I can try out boating-thrillers (which is a hefty sub-genre) that I wouldn’t ordinarily read.  There are a lot of free books that have allowed me to dip my toes in everything.  Many authors include samples of other author’s works in the back of eBooks, so I can follow bunny-trails from book to book discovering new-to-me authors.  I can read the backlist of many writers for only a small fee.  I’ve been all over the place, genre-wise this year.

Do I miss paper books?  Not really.  I get annoyed when I read them — I can’t adjust the font, they’re heavy to hold, it’s a bit awkward to turn the page (depending on the binding and how I am sitting or laying).  I almost always have to wear my reading glasses to feel comfortable reading them.  I still buy reference books and cookbooks, but I don’t anticipate buying much fiction or non-fiction ever again.  If I had a different career, where I use books heavily as reference material (I’m thinking of historians here), I might feel a need for more books.  But my field is mostly driven by articles, not by books, so that’s not the case for me.  I don’t see a lot of paper books in my future.