As my Kindle approaches, I find myself not buying books that I want to read, but rather adding them to a queue, a list I’m keeping for myself of titles that I plan to buy and read electronically. This process is also making me wonder whether or not I’m going to impoverish myself buying more books than I can possibly read. (My wife certainly worries about this.) Wondering about this makes me wonder exactly how many books I’m reading right now and how many I read in a year.

I don’t keep any reliable records of my book reading. I don’t always review the books I do finish, or even write a note to myself about them, and the books I read come variously from Amazon, brick-and-mortar bookstores, the public library, the library at work, and finally Bookman’s, a major used bookseller here in Tucson. This also makes the cost of reading harder to calculate, as the library books are free and the Bookman’s books are often effectively free because I’m buying them with store credit that I get from selling my used books.

The other major question is whether the books that I’m interested in will even be available on the Kindle. Amazon boasts 90,000 Kindle titles, but like cable TV, quantity in general does not guarantee availability of what I’m looking for. So here and now, I shall survey the books I have recently read, am presently reading (and my progress), and books I want to read, and the costs of each. I’m going back a couple of years, since some of the books on my “currently reading” list are books I bought back in 2006.

Recently Read
Pontoon by Garrison Keillor. Cost, $25 from an airport bookstore. Available on Kindle for $10.
Evolution’s Shore by Ian McDonald. Cost, free in trade from Bookman’s. Unavailable for Kindle.
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Cost, free in trade from Bookman’s. Available on Kindle for $4.80 (wow).
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker, M.D. Cost, $15 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $10.
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. Cost, $15 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $10.
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. Cost, $12 from Amazon. Unavailable for Kindle.
A Natural History of Parenting by Susan Allport. Cost, free in trade from Bookman’s. Unavailable for Kindle.
The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine, Ph.D. Cost, $17 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $10.
Getting Things Done by David Allen. Cost, $10 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $9.
Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. Cost, $17 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $7.
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. Cost, free from the public library. Available on Kindle for $10.
Blink by Malcom Gladwell. Cost, free from the public library. Unavailable on Kindle.
Accelerando by Charles Stross. Cost, $15 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle (but is available electronically via Creative Commons).

Total cost of recently read books: $126
If I’d had a Kindle: $82.80 (provided I could get Accelerando onto the Kindle somehow)

Books I Never Read and Probably Won’t
It happens. I buy a book that looks interesting but it isn’t, and it never gets finished, and is basically a waste of money. Would I have wasted less money with the Kindle? Let‘s see:

Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin. Cost, $10 from Amazon. Unavailable from Kindle.
The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. Cost, $15 from Amazon. Unavailable from Kindle.

Well, that’s $25 down the hole. No Kindle editions, so if I’d been dead-set on those titles I would have spent the same $25.

Currently Reading
For these I’ll show my progress too.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Progress, 90% (475/529). Cost, $15 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $10.
Moral Minds by Marc D. Hauser. Progress, 55% (234/426). Cost, $30 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Progress, 68% (298/440). Cost, $11 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle (!).
The Humane Interface by Jef Raskin. Progress, 90% (188/209). Cost, free from the library at work. Unavailable on Kindle.
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. Progress, 52% (116/224). Cost, free from the public library. Unavailable on Kindle.

Total cost of books I’m reading: $56
If I’d had a Kindle: $51

Books I Want to Read
These are books on my to-read list for one reason or another, usually recommendations.

Portofino by Franky Shaeffer. Cost, $2 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. Cost, $17 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage. Cost, $10 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay. Cost, $15 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $5.59.
Leaving the Saints by Martha Beck. Cost, $10 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
The Renewable Energy Handbook by William H. Kemp. Cost, $20 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
Spook by Mary Roach. $11 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
Stiff by Mary Roach. $11 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. $6 from Amazon. Available on Kindle for $1 (!!!)
Overclocked by Cory Doctorow. $11 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
Fermat’s Last Theorem by Amir D. Azcel. $12 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.
The Bottomless Well by Huber and Mills. $7 from Amazon. Unavailable on Kindle.

Total cost of books I want to read: $132
With a Kindle: $117.59

Conclusion
Interesting. To be said slowly, as: “In. Ter. Esssssss. Ting.”

I don’t know if you noticed, but out of the thirty books that I have read, am reading, or want to read, only eleven, or 36% of them, are available on the Kindle. Hm. I hope this will change over time, but what it does mean is that I’m not going to be done with paper books for awhile, not unless I want to change my current reading list to suit the Kindle.

Which could happen. There are some titles, like A History of the World in Six Glasses, that I am dead set on reading, and I will read them one way or the other, whether that means reserving them in the public library or buying them from Amazon. But there are others, like Stiff, that only interest me a little, and might stay on the list for a long time. It’s in this marginal area where Amazon might be able to sell me more Kindle titles, just by making it easier for me to indulge my curiosity. After all, the only reason I bought Pontoon was that I was stuck in an airport and it was there. Stay tuned.