To Kindle or not to Kindle?

Even though I love gadgets and can only be described as an interweb addict, I've always been a book kind of girl. I love the feel and tactility of ink on paper, or the musty smell and yellowing pages of an old paperback. There's something magical about holding a new unread book in your hand, the promise of a unknown world which you can enter just by reading the pages. I want to feel that I own the books I've read, and need to know that I have a book I particularly enjoyed on a shelf where I can pick it up and hold it long after I've finished reading it.

Yesterday as I was getting ready to go to my book group at England's Lane Books, I was considering a stack a books I was planning to recommend to the group. There were five books that I wanted to show for future reads, in addition to the two current month's titles. Seven books in total. Although they were all paperbacks, they still weighed a ton - too much to be carrying on the bus for a girl with a bad back. So I hit on the brilliant idea of taking a photo of the novels and hoping that the book shop would still have a copy of each title. Naturally if I was an organised person, I would have made sure the shop had ordered extra copies of the novels for me - it only takes 24 hours after all - but I am, alas, not that person.

Titles considered for the book group on December 16th - we chose 'What I Loved' 

Anyway, back to the subject in hand. It occurred to me that instead of having to lug the titles, or take pictures of them and hope that the shop has them, I could have already downloaded the books onto a Kindle, and passed that around the group.

I know that for someone who works in a bookshop even considering a Kindle is paramount of blasphemy, but hear me out. I think if I had a Kindle, I'd still buy the book. At least I'd buy it if it was a good read....

I don't know, but the idea of being able to carry thousands of titles away when working, commuting or even travelling, rather than the books taking valuable shoe-space in my suitcase, well, it's got to be an attractive proposition?

There are of course other e-book readers on the market, notably the iPad, but having already got an iPhone, which is not without its problems, plus the significant price difference, Kindle looks to be the favourite for me at least.

What do you think? Is the Kindle on your Christmas wish-list?