In case anyone's wondering...last Thursday night, I got last year's model Kindle (non-touch) for $50 from Best Buy.
I am extremely happy with it, and kicking myself for not getting it sooner.
I bought pipetraveller's book and very much enjoying it. I feel with some grammatical editing, it could become a classic, though I would keep the friendly style, and lack of quotation marks, much as European authors like to do.
I also bought and finished "Back From the Ashes" which was an amazing book, and I loved it.
I then downloaded about 40 classics, and I'm in the middle of Hamlet. I'm going to go through all of Shakespeare's books and enjoying very much.
I am totally hooked on this little device. I read it constantly over the weekend, and the battery barely dropped. I had only initially charged it for 1.5 hours.
Thanks for all the advice guys!