Run by Daisy Whitney at daisywhitney.com

Among the reasons I love my Kindle are that it holds more than one book. The Kindle’s ability to be both “A River Runs Through It” and “The Lovely Bones,” not to mention the New York Times and The Onion since I have subscriptions to both, is a big plus. That the e-reader can hold many, many books is especially handy when you’re traveling.

But here’s my big dilemma. I’m going to Hawaii soon. And while I’ll be doing most of my reading by the pool rather than the beach (I wouldn’t take the Kindle to the beach because of the sand factor), I’m a bit worried. Not that the Kindle would get wet. I think I have enough common sense not to cradle it while doing canon balls. But what do I do with it when I get in the pool? Leave in on the lounge chair? Sure, I’m staying at a nice resort that’s not teeming with thieves. But still, do I want to leave it even in a bag by my chair while I take a dip? Because I’d really rather not cart along five paperbacks for the trip. I’d really rather bring one Kindle. But I also want to go home with one Kindle. What would you do?

Generally speaking, I prefer to read actual books. As in paper ones. But now that I have the Kindle and am experiencing the benefits of digital books, I’ve started thinking more about the idea of buying books that can “follow” me wherever I am here. Here’s what I mean. I’d love to be able to buy a hard copy of a book, have it come with a digital version for Kindle reading and also perhaps the audio version. I could read it on the Kindle when I’m traveling because the Kindle is easier to carry, read the actual book when at home and listen to the audio version while out for a walk or in the car. How would you like your books to live?

Generally, I’m a fan of instant gratification. Since the Kindle is all about the big IG, I’m a fan of the Kindle now, too. I’ve had the Kindle 2 for about 48 hours so far and here’s what I like. The ability to sample a book and read a chapter or two on the device before buying is wonderful. Sure, I can do the same thing in the bookstore, but with the Kindle sample feature I can read in my home before buying, rather than in the aisle of a bookstore before buying. Of course, the books are all cheaper on the Kindle and that’s a clear advantage. Another benefit of the e-reader is it contains all your recommendations and preferences from your Amazon account. So when I visited the Amazon store on the Kindle, the book Love is Hell was recommended to me based on my past purchases. I downloaded a sample of the book and was so hooked that when I reached the end of the free pages I immediately hit buy and was rewarded with the rest of the book in literally about two seconds. The downloads are that fast.

But, the downside is you can’t share books. And I’m not talking about DRM issues here. I mean you can’t pass along a book to a friend. You own the books on the Kindle, they live on the Kindle and you can’t drop them off at a friend’s house so she can read them too. Another drawback is I often don’t know what page I’m on in a book while reading on the Kindle. Pages aren’t numbered the same way, so it’s hard to gage your pace in the story.

Finally, I can’t cheat! I like to sometimes flip ahead and get a little snippet of the middle or even the end of the story and I can’t do that easily on the Kindle.

Still, I like having one and as a matter of fact, I’m going to go read more Love is Hell right now.