Amazon’s surprise hit and Oprah-endorsed gadget, the Kindle ebook reader is so in demand this holiday season that there is a big backlog of orders. A cursory look at the Amazon site indicates that shipping Kindle will take 11 to 13 weeks.

What Amazon is basically selling now is a place in the long line of desperate customers who want to buy the Kindle for themselves or as a gift.

At this point, I’d rather just use my trusty Nokia E61i as my default ebook reader. I’m currently reading Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule and I’m not experiencing any problems or difficulties in reading despite the smaller screen.