Amazon Kindle Review 2022: Why It’s Even Better Than Real Books

UPDATE—July 11, 2023: Good news! The Amazon Kindle (2022 edition!) is marked down by $35 for Amazon Prime Day 2023. Not only does this Amazon bestseller sell out every year when it goes on sale, but it’s also an all-time Glamour reader- and editor-favorite for gifting for its ease of use and inherent versatility.

Both the black and navy colors are going for $65, and you can get either with three months free of Kindle Unlimited for the same sale price. If there was ever a time to snag the e-reader, it’s now.

Amazon Kindle

ORIGINAL STORY—July 12, 2022: While die-hard book lovers might turn their noses up at the Amazon Kindle, I can’t live without the retail giant’s in-house e-reader. And I generally count myself among word snobs—I was voted Class Bookworm eight years in a row, majored in English literature, and fell in love with my husband’s big Midwestern face in a sophomore-year poetry class. I, like many other introverts who hate talking to people, find all my comfort in books.

Sure, the Kindle doesn’t and will never take the place of a paperback—and in a perfect world, I would have built-in bookshelves for my ever-growing collection of books. In the real world, however, I share a studio apartment with said husband and am working with precariously stacked books that hog most of the square footage. 

Amazon Kindle

Even though Amazon’s influence on the publishing industry and local bookstores has been highly criticized, the Kindle is a little different. Slim, portable, and straightforward to use, it’s the reason I’ve read more books in the past year than I have in, well, years.

Therein lies the primary advantage of the Amazon Kindle: It clocks in at half the width of the average paperback. That means I can fit it in most of my purses, whether it’s in a tote next to my laptop or shoved into a designer shoulder bag. (Did I bring it to the boutique to make sure it would fit? Ab-so-lute-ly.)

That makes it especially ideal for travel. (I do have to pack a separate charger for it, but it’s the same one for my noise-canceling headphones—again, introvert here—so it doesn’t feel excessive.) Being able to take my Kindle everywhere has been really impactful, since I like to travel by myself and therefore spend a lot of time alone. That could be, would be sort of a bummer…if I didn’t have my Kindle with me.