You can read your book or kindle hands free wether you are in bed or sitting up. It's up to you. It's also great for cooking. You can put your cook book on it and follow the instructions with out having to get ingredients on the book and these can be made ot fit a large book or a small one. This is a small one as I had enough of the stuffing to make just one. Have a great day, Huggies, Fay