Kindle or not?

[Herr-Berbunch]

I've spoken to my father-in-law recently (he's a rare sight) and he's raved about Amazon's Kindle, and now I'm considering getting one for the wife (she'll have to wait till christmas time now). Do those of you that have got one have good or bad experiences with it?

I'm not interested in the kindle apps, as I still believe staring at a small backlit screen (monitor, phone) cannot be great for your eyes, but the actual Kindle isn't backlit!