Kindle is Amazon’s digital book service.
Instead of reading paper books, you can buy and store books digitally, then read them on a Kindle device, smartphone, iPad, or the free Kindle app.
In other words, Kindle lets you carry a whole bookshelf with you in one compact device, wherever you go.
🐲My head has been full of fantasy since I was little
Ever since I was a child, I never really read textbooks or self-help books, even if they were supposed to be educational. But fantasy always fascinated me.
The book that made me fall in love with reading was Alice in Wonderland. I loved the animated movie too, but the book amazed me with its wordplay and the joy of using my own imagination.
From there, I kept diving deeper and deeper into fantasy worlds. Even during class, I would draw and write little stories, sometimes adding my classmates as characters.
😢 Struggles I had with reading paper books
Holding heavy books with one hand made my wrist hurt
This started when I was living in Japan.
At that time, my reading time was during my commute to work, about two hours a day in total. The trains were always crowded, so I would stand with one hand holding the train strap and the other hand holding my book.
After doing that for a while, one day my wrist suddenly started to hurt. Maybe it was because the books I was reading were usually large, heavy hardcover editions.
New books in Japan often first come out in larger editions, and then a few years later, smaller and cheaper paperback versions are available.
I cut thick books into pieces
So I came up with a solution. I felt sorry for the books, but I started cutting thick books into several parts.
I removed the cover and used a cutter to divide the book into sections. That solved the problem of carrying such heavy books.
But once I did that, I could no longer donate the books to a library or give them to friends after reading them.
Reading in the dark
The next problem happened in Sweden.
My life here became less busy, so I stopped reading on trains. But I am a short sleeper, and I often wake up very early in the morning. Sometimes I wanted to read in bed, but the bedroom was too dark.
In Sweden, especially in summer, the nights are bright for a long time, so we use blackout curtains. I did not want to suddenly turn on the light and wake Anders, but sometimes I was too lazy to go to another room.
That is when I found a neck reading light.
Thanks to that, I could read next to Anders without waking him up, and I could also read on dark trains or airplanes without bothering other people.
After going through all those struggles, about half a year ago I finally discovered my ideal way to read digital books: The Kindle!
😘Detoxing from social media with Kindle books
The reason I started reading again on Kindle was because I wanted to step away from social media addiction and give my brain a rest.
On YouTube and social media, I kept clicking on things, but the content was often not what I expected. I started feeling like my time was just disappearing.
And since I am a short sleeper, I have more personal time in a day than many people. So I thought, maybe I should start reading books again.
But I had already read all the books I had at home.
Then I remembered Anders had a Kindle. I wondered if I could also buy Japanese books on it, so I looked it up – and I could.
One of my favorite books is Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. When I bought volumes 1 and 2 in Japan, they were thick hardcover books. By the time I got volume 3, the smaller paperback version was available. And now, I can read it on Kindle, in a size even more compact than a paperback.
👍 The benefits of Kindle
📚 You can carry your bookshelf anywhere
The storage capacity depends on the Kindle model, but for example, a 16GB model can store thousands of books. You can carry it with you while traveling, commuting, or going to a café, and read whatever book fits your mood. I love that.
👀Easy to read in both dark and bright places, and gentle on the eyes
Kindle Paperwhite models have a glare-free display and adjustable warm light. Unlike the bright LCD screens on smartphones and iPads, the screen looks closer to printed text on paper. For me, it feels much easier on the eyes, even when reading for a long time in the morning or at night.
ℹ️Dictionary, translation, and highlights are useful
It is useful for checking the reading or meaning of Japanese words, but it is especially helpful when reading books in English. I can immediately check the meaning or translation of a word, and I can also save highlighted words and phrases.
🔋Long battery life
The current Kindle Paperwhite is said to last up to 12 weeks depending on usage. Compared to a smartphone, I do not have the stress of thinking, “I need to charge this every day!”
🕐 It shows how much reading time is left
When you open a Kindle book and start reading, it can show how much time is left in the book or in the current chapter, based on your reading speed. It also shows what percentage of the book you have finished. When I am reading a book I do not want to end, I can slow down a little. And if I am reading the first volume and already know I want the next one, I can buy it in advance.
💦 Waterproof model
The Kindle Paperwhite has an IPX8 waterproof rating, so you can enjoy reading in places like the bathroom, at the beach, or by the pool. However, my old version isn’t waterproof.
🔆 You can change the font size, background color, and brightness
I do not really like flipping through pages too much, so I like to make the text compact on one page and choose the simplest, easiest-to-read font. But I also feel safe knowing if my eyesight gets bad in old age, I can simply make the text larger.
There are other benefits too. You can read samples, view your own PDFs and documents, use Send to Kindle to send free digital books, images, recipes, work documents, notes, or PDFs you want to read. You can also change the screen color to white, amber, or green, and read without being interrupted by smartphone notifications.
👎 The disadvantages of Kindle
It does not give you the feeling of owning a paper book
From a collector’s point of view, you cannot decorate your bookshelf, admire the books, smell the paper, or enjoy the feeling of turning physical pages. You also cannot give the book to someone else after you finish reading it.
It is not ideal for color books, photography books, or design books
Regular Kindle devices display in black and white, so magazines and design books are usually easier to view on an iPad or as paper books. There are color models such as Kindle Colorsoft, but according to Amazon’s specifications, color display is 150 ppi while black-and-white display is 300 ppi. So it does not feel the same as printed full-color material.
Manga takes up more storage
If you mainly read novels, 16GB is quite spacious. But if you want to store a large number of manga volumes, the storage might not be enough.
I buy too many books
This may just be my personal problem, but Japanese Kindle books are usually cheaper than English or Swedish editions. When books recommended in newsletters keep piling up on my wishlist, I often end up buying several at once during Kindle book campaigns, where you can get Amazon points back when you buy multiple eligible eBooks.
Some Kindle book covers look bad
When I am not reading, I set my Kindle to show the book cover. But sometimes the cover size does not fit properly, or the Kindle version just looks less attractive than the paper book.
♻️ Be careful when buying a secondhand Kindle device
Older devices may lose support in the future
According to Amazon UK’s help page, some Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier will no longer be able to connect to Amazon services after May 20, 2026. That means users may no longer be able to buy, borrow, or download books on those devices. By the way, my Kindle Paperwhite is the 7th generation model from 2015, so it is still safe for now.
🌐 How I buy Japanese Kindle books from abroad
This part is based on my own experience of buying and reading Japanese Kindle books from abroad while living in Sweden.
Depending on the country setting of your Amazon account and the Kindle Store’s terms of use, there may be books you can or cannot buy. In my case, I use my Japanese Amazon account, set my VPN location to Japan, and buy books from Amazon.co.jp. This may work differently depending on the country, so please check the latest official Amazon help information.
🙋🏻♀️ The roots of my love for philosophy
My name is written 尚子 and read as Takako.
Actually, my name was given by the philosopher Shin’ichi Hisamatsu.
He was from Gifu Prefecture and was an acquaintance of my father. Hisamatsu was a thinker who explored the question of “What is the self?” through Zen and philosophy.
After ending my busy life in Asia and moving to Sweden, I started thinking more slowly and deeply about who I am.
Through design, writing, travel, and reading, I began thinking about what I see, what I feel, what I remember, how I see the world, and even the personalities and inner structures of the people around me.
So I feel that this name is somehow connected to the roots of my creative expression.
🧒🏻 Books that had a big influence on me as a child
ℹ️ I added Kindle book links to the titles, so please check them out if you are interested.
🤩Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland + Through the Looking-Glass
This strange and charming story made me fall in love with books. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a nonsense dream adventure about a girl who follows the White Rabbit into a mysterious world. Through the Looking-Glass is another strange adventure, where the world beyond the mirror moves like a game of chess.
🤩The Neverending Story
This is my favorite fantasy story. I also love the movie, and I admired the character Atreyu so much that I once wore my braided hair wrapped around my forehead like him.
🤩Pippi Longstocking
This book also had a big influence on me. I used to wear different socks on my right and left feet because of Pippi. Written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, it is a bold, kind, and very Nordic story about the strongest, freest, most chaotic red-haired girl in the world.
🤔Sophie’s World
This was the first book that taught me what philosophy is.
Written by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder, it follows a girl named Sophie as she receives mysterious letters and takes a course in philosophy, leading her to think about questions such as “Who am I?” and “What is the world?”
🎥 Books that gave me the joy of experiencing the story twice through movies and TV adaptations
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The cover of the first copy I bought did not have illustrations of the characters, so I imagined the story almost entirely in my own head.
When the movie came out, I was amazed. I was so surprised by how beautifully the world had been recreated and how huge the scale felt.
😱 The Three-Body Problem
This is a science fiction story that begins during China’s Cultural Revolution. It follows the consequences of a scientist losing hope in humanity and sending a message into space.
In the original novel, the story is set in China, but in the Netflix adaptation, the setting was changed to London and many of the characters were changed to non-Chinese characters. The story itself was also made easier to follow.
But I still enjoyed it as a fresh, new version of the story.
Project Hail Mary
After reading The Three-Body Problem, I wanted to read more science fiction, so this story was absolutely perfect for me.
I really wanted to tell Anders, who loves science fiction, all about it. But when I looked it up and found out that a movie adaptation was coming soon, I decided to keep quiet.
So when we went to see the movie, I was really happy that I could finally share the story with him.
As for the adaptation, the characters felt a little sadder than I had imagined, and some of the fun experimental parts were left out. It made me think that this story should not only be made into one movie – I would also love to see it adapted as a TV drama series.
🎥 Books I hope will someday become movies or TV dramas
👆Observatory Mansions
In the strange mansion known as the Memory Theater, eccentric residents live quietly.
The main character is a lonely young man who never removes his white gloves and collects things he finds. When a new resident arrives, memories from the past that had been trapped inside the mansion slowly begin to move again.
It is a story about strange and broken people, loneliness, and recovery. It has a literary stillness with dark humor, almost like a Tim Burton world.
The book is very thick, but I loved the cover design so much that I could not bring myself to cut it apart.
I also loved the strange character bookmarks I had – one with a cockroach I bought in Taiwan, and another made by a friend’s child.
👆Fourth Wing
The story is divided into three main parts and is still ongoing.
Fourth Wing – two volumes in Japanese
Iron Flame – two volumes in Japanese
Onyx Storm – two volumes in Japanese, recently released in Japanese
This is a fast-paced romantasy set in a military academy for dragon riders.
The main character, Violet, is forced by her mother to enter a deadly dragon rider training school. She has to survive brutal training, competition between candidates, and danger by using her intelligence and powers of observation.
Because I love dragons, I started reading it after a friend recommended it to me. I finished the first book in one excited rush.
However, during the second book, there was a section where the dragon-related story was put on hold for a while, and I lost some interest. So I have not bought Fourth Wing 2 yet, but I still hope it becomes a drama series someday.
And many more👇
Piranesi
A fantasy mystery about a protagonist who lives in a vast house filled with the sea, countless halls, and endless statues.
As he gets closer to the mysteries of his world and his own memories, the beautiful maze-like atmosphere becomes the main charm of the story.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
A heartwarming modern fantasy about a serious caseworker who is sent to investigate a home for children with magical abilities.
Through his encounters on the island, he slowly begins to change.
Klara and the Sun
A story about Klara, an “Artificial Friend” with artificial intelligence, who meets a sickly girl named Josie.
Through their relationship, the novel explores friendship, love, family, and what it means to be human.
The Paper Menagerie
A short story collection by Ken Liu.
The title story, The Paper Menagerie, is a heartbreaking story about love between parent and child, immigration, language, and memory, told through origami animals made by the narrator’s mother.
I cried while reading it for the first time in a long time, and Anders was surprised.
The collection also includes stories that mix science fiction with the atmosphere of immigrant culture and history. It does not over-explain everything, so it makes you think for yourself.
The stories created by this Chinese-American author were especially fascinating to me because I know a little about Chinese culture.
🙆🏻♀️ Which authors have I loved for a long time?
William Shakespeare and Haruki Murakami.
There are many books I like, but not many authors whose books I have read more than one of.
Among them, Shakespeare and Murakami are special to me. I have enjoyed finishing their books without giving up halfway, and if someone asked me to choose just one favorite book by them, I would not be able to decide.
I have read most of Shakespeare’s famous works, but with Haruki Murakami, there are still several books I want to read.
Recently, I also added some new books to my summer reading list.
🥱Books I read recently that did not really resonate with me
Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder
I found this book on a ranking shelf in a Swedish bookstore.
Written by Japanese author Asako Yuzuki, it is inspired by a real-life serial suspicious death case in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The story explores food, desire, and gourmet culture through a woman who is neither young nor conventionally beautiful. The idea was interesting, but it felt too long for me, and I ended up giving up halfway.
The Box of Tears / Tears Box
This is a book by Han Kang, the Korean author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024.
At the time, this was the only Kindle book of hers available in Japanese, and I bought it because the cover illustration was beautiful.
The idea of the story was very good and caught my interest. But it was so short and ended so suddenly that I felt like something more could have happened.
🎧 Why not audiobooks?
I have heard that most Swedish people listen to audiobooks, and there are so few Kindle books available on Amazon.se that it feels like audiobooks are much more common here.
Of course, I tried audiobooks too, but I gave up for the following reasons.
– The narrator’s voice did not suit me, and it broke the image I had created in my own imagination.
– I like reading while listening to music, and I cannot use two sets of earphones at the same time.
– While listening, I end up starting to do something else, and eventually I realize I am not really listening anymore.
The types of books I like are not just fantasy or science fiction.
I like stories that make me think about historical culture, beautiful worlds, humanity, the fun of language, loneliness, humor, and kindness.
So I think what I really love is literary fantasy and philosophical science fiction.
When choosing Kindle books, I also pay quite a lot of attention to the estimated reading time. Many of the books I read are around 8 to 10 hours long, and I like being able to live inside that world for a few days.
Are you a reader, or are you more of an audiobook person?
📖 The types of books I like
Genres I like
Literary fantasy, fantastic literature, bibliophile fantasy, academic fantasy, philosophical science fiction, speculative science fiction, and cozy fantasy.
Elements I like
Old libraries, huge mansions, labyrinths, secret rooms, memory, AI, humanity, loneliness, beauty, history, travel, food, and kindness.
In other words, I love literary fantasy and philosophical science fiction.
If you have similar tastes, I hope this page helps you find your next book.
So, if you live abroad and want to read Japanese books, love reading but find it hard to carry books around, or want to take a little break from social media and get your reading time back, Kindle is definitely worth trying.
For me, Kindle is more than just an electronic device. It became the reading tool that brought me back into the world of books.
Notes from Chatty (ChatGPT)
By the way, I was surprised that on Amazon.se in Sweden, a highly digital country, I could barely find Kindle editions of even well-known books. So I asked Chatty, and found out that in Sweden, around 62% of book sales by volume in 2024 were audiobooks, while ebooks were only about 5%. That made me realize that Sweden has a much stronger audiobook culture than ebook culture.
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This is how we make our Nordic Life Colorful! Enjoy your day!