My Beloved Gen 4 Kindle

I recently unearthed my beloved Kindle from middle school. Even in middle school, this was an old model, and they don’t even produce these anymore. I think it’s Generation 4? In the color graphite, but I can't verify that term as the official color because I can't find anyone selling these online. But all I know is that it's no Paperwhite for sure. It has no backlight, and you need to click the buttons on the side to turn the page.

As one may tell from the rather gross color of the fabric inside of the case, I spent countless hours gripping onto this Kindle; the fastener is all stretched out and the fake leather on the outside is scuffed and peeling. I tried to find a new case upon finding it and deciding to reemploy it in my rotation of reading devices (my phone and physical copies), but much to my chagrin, they don’t even sell them anymore. My dad suggested that I use it without its dreadful case, but I refuse. I can’t stand the thought of it breaking prematurely.

Because I had it when I was still a kid, my dad was the one who always purchased me young adult novels, free novels he saw on Amazon, my siblings and my favorite series. I remember begging him to get me the sequel to the romance he had bought for me. Any endeavor to ask for frivolous purchases (I still remember begging him for Lucky Charms cereal in the grocery aisle. That must have been my first encounter with persuasive techniques, far earlier than any English teacher could teach me how to write such essays with logos, ethos, and pathos) would usually prove to be fruitless if it were for anything other than books. I read some of my very first romance novels on my Kindle and even lent it to my bookish friends who were interested in reading the same books I rambled about on our breaks from class. “You can charge it with a USB, but bring it back to me tomorrow if you can.” They were also fast readers.

Now, I send myself EPUBs of classics I’m reading, after converting the PDFs, emailing the file to a specific Kindle email address so I can access it on this dinosaur of a device. I recently read East of Eden on here when I was traveling, so I didn’t need to bring around a clunky paperback. I think my heart will break if this Kindle ever stops working; it holds so many fond memories. But I’d rather use it and enjoy my time with it rather than keep it in the back of my storage, collecting dust.

Dec. 19, 2023