By the time you read this, I will be back from my two-week summer road trip with the family, and (sadly) preparing to return to the work-a-day world. One of my favorite activities during vacation is catching up on my recreational reading, an activity that I pursued this time with the help of the new Kindle, sent to me to try by the folks over at Amazon.

For those who don’t know, the Kindle is Amazon’s new tool for reading books, magazines, newspapers and other items (including blogs) electronically. And let me just say this is, to quote my brother’s description of his Nintendo DS, “a seriously cool piece of technology.”

After trying it for two weeks, here are MY pros, and cons, of the new Amazon Kindle:

Pros

• Portability – During a vacation like this, I can probably ready 6 – 8 books, which can take up a lot of room in our car. Driving over 16 hours from Boston to North Carolina in our Toyota Prius, space was at a premium, so I appreciated that with the Kindle I was carrying “all” my books in one very slim device that fit into my travel bag. (In the past I’ve been known to abandon books in hotel rooms to avoid carting my completed reads with me).

• Readability – Amazon describes the display as “electronic-paper” which provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper, and I have to agree. The screen was very easy to read, and when my eyes were tired, I could adjust the font size to make reading a little easier.

• Green – I don’t really know if it is more or less green than “real” books, but it feel more “green” to be buying books that didn’t require any paper to produce, or to be disposed of.

• Instant Gratification – The Kindle includes free WiFi which allows you to connect to (and buy books from) Amazon.com at anytime, even when driving through the backroads of Virginia. During the trip I discovered the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer (yes, I’m the last person in the WORLD). When I finished the first book, Twilight, we were still hours away from our next stop. With the Kindle I was able to download book 2, New Moon, and continue reading. By the end of day three I had read all 3 installments and found out number four was being released just in time for our trip home.

• Stay connected – My biggest complaint about vacation is how hard it is to stay connected with current events. I was able to subscribe to have The Boston Globe delivered to my Kindle each day during our vacation so, after I finished reading my book, I could check in on the latest headlines from home.

Cons

• Batteries required – It may be portable, but this Kindle is an electronic device which means it’s another thing I need to keep charged (and another cord I have to keep track of). Also, I didn’t feel comfortable throwing it into the beach bag when we went to Water Country for fear it would get wet.

• Doesn’t “feel” like a book – It may read like a book, but it doesn’t feel like one. There is something about a new book, or a library book, or any book, that just can’t be captured by a digital device. The smell, the feel of the paper, the durability (a book can be dropped in a swimming pool and, with effort, make a nearly full recovery. Believe me, I’ve done it).

• Instant gratification = $$ – I rarely buy books. Instead, I usually, stock up on books that I’ve borrowed from my mom, or received from friends, which keeps my costs low. With the Kindle I found myself buying books with very little thought to how much I was spending ($31.88 when I last checked and that doesn’t count the Boston Globe subscription – I signed up for the 2 week trial, would eventually cost $9.99 per month – or the last installment of the Twilight series.)

There are free books available – mostly older books (including the Bible) – which is great if you are interested in catching up on the classics. Through the site “Kindle Guide, Free Books & Resources” I was able to find out about free books from Amazon and Harper Collins. (As I write this I’m downloading “Spirit House” by Christopher G Moore which Amazon is giving free to Kindle owners until August 15th.

So what’s the verdict? As I said at top, this is one seriously-cool piece of technology, and sending it back to Amazon is going to be . . . very, very, very difficult. But with a list price of $359 I’m not sure that I need a Kindle badly enough to buy one for myself. If I traveled more, or had more free time to read, I certainly would consider adding the Kindle to my tech arsenal.

Of course there is always Christmas – guess I should start dropping the hints now.

Have you tried the Kindle (or other digital book reader)? What are your pros and cons?