I love books.  Real books, on my bookshelf.  It has always been my dream to have my very own home library, and now that I finally have one (albeit a small one), I want to continue to fill it with real books.

So I never thought I could love a Kindle.   In fact, I had no desire to even purchase a Kindle until about six months ago when I found a couple of blogging-related books I really wanted to read that were ONLY available for Kindle.  I decided it was a legitimate business expense & bought the cheapest version, which at the time was $114, feeling very skeptical about the whole thing.

Boy was I wrong!  I immediately fell in LOVE with my Kindle, so much so that when the new Kindle Fire was announced in September, I pre-ordered it without a second thought that very day.  I’ve had it for a week now & can’t say enough good things about it.  It is convenient, easy to use, & easy to read.  There are literally thousands of FREE Apps to choose from, not to mention all the books.  My entire Kindle library was added to this new one automatically, and set up took about 5 seconds.

My kids are completely enamored with it, and I like that it is super sturdy and I don’t worry that they might break it.  The whole family–even my technology hating husband–can’t help but love playing Angry Birds (which was free!)  I was actually thinking about getting the Leap Pad for Princess until I got the Kindle Fire, but now I wouldn’t even consider it.  The initial investment might be a little more, but when you consider the price of the apps and games, along with the fact that the Kindle holds books as well, it seems like a much better value.

At $199, the Kindle Fire isn’t cheap, but compared to the $499 iPad 2, it is a bargain.  It doesn’t look like there will be any sales this year yet, but there is a strong possibility it could sell out, so if you’re considering one, I would order sooner rather than later.  If that still seems a little steep, you may want to consider one of the 3 other New Kindles, including a newer, lighter, more streamlined version of the original one I had for only $79.

Click this link to order the Kindle Fire

(P.S. I promise this is not a paid review and is not in any way sponsored by Amazon.  I just really like my Kindle & I really do think it is the best gift of 2011!)