Have you gifted a Kindle before? And book recs?

[fatamy]

Back story: My mom reads a bit, but not a lot. She likes war stories, space stories and real life triumph stories, like Into Thin Air for example.  She recently had knee surgery and is kind of out of commission but CANNOT sit still and relax. She's not into TV or movies, so Netflix is out. My sister suggested we get her a Kindle for her upcoming bday. 

1. Have you gifted a non-avid reader/parent a Kindle? How did it work out? I'll be able to give her a full lesson in how to get books on it, she'll be at my house for a week.

2. Do you have any recommendations for books I can put on it for her? I'm definitely doing The Martian, but she's really into Everest and the things I mentioned above. 

I think this is going to be a love it or hate it, so I'm a little worried. And might use it as an opportunity to upgrade my kindle and give her my current one <I just got a new one in April, but it's basic not the paperwhite>

[rainbowchip]

We got my mom a Samsung Nook tablet last Christmas and she has not read a single book on it. I don't think she uses it too much and it's basically to play candy crush. LOL

I think she just can't get it through her head that she can use it for reading. And she only reads a few books a year and it's usually a book that someone loans to her. So I think you are right that it will be a love or hate thing.

As far as recomendations, the only two I can think of are Unbroken (which both my parents read and loved) and Code Name Verity.

[revjen]

I got my mom a kindle which she broke after 3 months. Well, stepfather broke it when he "accidentally" sat on it. She went out and got a fucking ipad, which is what she wanted in the first place.

So my nice gesture meant nothing.

I'm still bitter.

[itsme]

Jun 10, 2015 13:53:31 GMT -5 revjen said:

I got my mom a kindle which she broke after 3 months. Well, stepfather broke it when he "accidentally" sat on it. She went out and got a fucking ipad, which is what she wanted in the first place.

So my nice gesture meant nothing.

I'm still bitter.

She could have sent it in for a replacement.  DH fell on mine and smashed the screen with his hand an they replaced it, no questions asked.

[revjen]

Jun 10, 2015 18:14:23 GMT -5 itsme said:

Jun 10, 2015 13:53:31 GMT -5 revjen said:

I got my mom a kindle which she broke after 3 months. Well, stepfather broke it when he "accidentally" sat on it. She went out and got a fucking ipad, which is what she wanted in the first place.

So my nice gesture meant nothing.

I'm still bitter.

She could have sent it in for a replacement.  DH fell on mine and smashed the screen with his hand an they replaced it, no questions asked.

She could have but she used it as an excuse to get what she really wanted.  I made the suggestion and asked her for it so I could send it in.  There's a whole host of issues with my mom.

As for war stories, what about from the Tudor era?  The War of the Roses time or does she prefer something other times?

[fatamy]

Jun 10, 2015 19:54:27 GMT -5 revjen said:

Jun 10, 2015 18:14:23 GMT -5 itsme said:

She could have sent it in for a replacement.  DH fell on mine and smashed the screen with his hand an they replaced it, no questions asked.

She could have but she used it as an excuse to get what she really wanted.  I made the suggestion and asked her for it so I could send it in.  There's a whole host of issues with my mom.

As for war stories, what about from the Tudor era?  The War of the Roses time or does she prefer something other times?

She's very into WWII - especially Nazi stories. 
I'm reading the Nightingale now and enjoy it, but I think she's more into the battle stories. I also loved The Book Thief, but I'm not sure she'd like that either. I'm going to float all of these ideas by her though! 

[aurora]

If she liked Into Thin Air, you should also get her Anatoli Boukriev's The Climb, which give an opposing perspective to Krakauer's about what happened up there on Everest that day.

The best real life survival book I've read is Touching The void.

[charlatti]

Jun 10, 2015 19:54:27 GMT -5 revjen said:

Jun 10, 2015 18:14:23 GMT -5 itsme said:

She could have sent it in for a replacement.  DH fell on mine and smashed the screen with his hand an they replaced it, no questions asked.

She could have but she used it as an excuse to get what she really wanted.  I made the suggestion and asked her for it so I could send it in.  There's a whole host of issues with my mom.

As for war stories, what about from the Tudor era?  The War of the Roses time or does she prefer something other times?

Totally thread jacking, but I'm fascinated by this story. Did you know she wanted the iPad? Couldn't she have just bought herself the iPad and still used the kindle for reading? 

[revjen]

She had mentioned it but she's not very technically inclined. At least, she's not when she's not interested. Like she never got how to send e-mails but can text. I thought that the original Kindle would have been a good way to ease her into a e-reader. I got it for her for her birthday and set it up for her. She used it for a while. But then stepfather happened to sit on it (because it probably took attention away from him. He's a jerk like that.) so she didn't tell me what had happened until after the fact.

[ally]

I have a Nook and bought one for my mom for Christmas a couple of years ago.  She uses it all the time, but she is a reader.  We share an account so that we can both read the books that are on it.  We used to share "paper books", so this works for us.  Would that be an option? 

If she does not like reading, would audio books work for her during her recovery?  Maybe puzzle books: crossword, soduko?  Just other ideas to help her sit and relax.

[fatamy]

So as I expected, my mom was less than thrilled. However my sister got huffy about my mom thinking it was an option to return it and not appreciative of the thoughtful gift, so I think she's keeping it.

She actually said (and I'm still laughing over it), "I love reading so much that I don't know if it's a good idea. I get sucked into books and I'm up all night reading!"
I'm thinking and the problem with that is...

My dad works long hours, and she owns a business and sets her own schedule and has plenty of time on her hands. I'm going to show her how to use it tonight and get books from the library. We watched two movies this week and she loved both of them so she trusts my judgement of what she'll enjoy. I told her I'll even go in and put holds on books for her that she'll like. I'm determined to get her to relax and read and keep my sister happy!

The Martian is up first, I might even just buy it for her rather than have her wait it out on the holds list.

ETA: And worst case scenario, if my Kindle ever breaks, at least I know in a year or two she probably won't be using hers and I can swipe it  

[christy082]

I hope she ends up loving it. I gave my mom one for her birthday several years ago and she wasn't sure at first if she would like it but she loves it now. She gets library books on it all the time.