Why I no longer think Kindles are the devil

I have always been very down on Kindles. I’m a reading purist. I like to walk into a bookshop, browse around, exchange money for an actual physical thing, be able to flick through the pages and then once I’m finished add it to the other colourful spines on my bookshelves. They offer not only entertainment but an excuse to go shopping and a way to decorate a room.

But earlier this year I went on a 3 month overseas trip. Based on my average reading rate while on holiday (6 books a week) and the average weight of a book (about 400g) I would have required an extra 7kg carry on bag just full of books. I took 13 flights during the trip with an average cost of £12 for an additional bag. That’s over £150 just to cart my personal library around the Americas.

So instead I swallowed all my principles and asked for a Kindle for my birthday. And it was without doubt the best thing I packed.

Now I’m not going to stop buying physical books or anything dramatic like that but I am a Kindle convert. I will strongly argue that Kindles have their place in every readers’ arsenal. On all future holidays I can now take an infinite selection of books away with me and still have room in my baggage allowance for every pair of sandals I own.

Also, if I forget to take my Kindle with me I have the Kindle app on my phone. Which not only has a duplicate copy of the book but will remember exactly where I’ve got to. There will never be a reading crisis again.

Of course it’s not really quite that much of a cost saving as any books I like I then end up buying in paper version as well to keep on my shelf so I can lend it out to people. So I’m buying most books twice. But the convenience is still a massive plus.

Also the Kindle store has been a revelation in places to find book recommendations. The Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing. Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott. Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh. Expectation by Anna Hope. All recommended to me through the Kindle store and all of which I’ve given 4 or more stars.

The only problem is Kindles don’t make for pretty pictures.

Desert Island books: One year on

My very first post on this blog was a run down of the eight books that, were I stranded on a desert island, would make the experience oh so much more bearable. But a year has past since then; new books have been read, my tastes have changed slightly, so it seemed like a good time for an update.

This week I’ve been reading… Married Love and other stories by Tessa Hadley

I picked up this book immediately after finishing War and Peace. I picked it up without much thought but I do have to wonder if subconsciously I was craving short stories. After 4000 pages of the same people, places and events being introduced to and done with a character all in 20 pages was a welcome relief.  And whereas in War and Peace I found myself skim reading to get it over with as soon as possible, in Married Love I wanted to savour every word because it was the writing that had all the beauty. Almost like poetry.

The stories in general perhaps had more in common with poetry than a traditional novel. Many of them didn’t really have a notable plot; nothing much changed from beginning to end. Instead of being full-fledged narratives they were more like snippets of stories, brief glimpses into a life, like you’re peering in through a person’s window as you walk down the road.

And because there wasn’t a plot I didn’t get hung up wanting to find out what would happen next. Usually I see long-winded descriptions, character sketches and scene setting as a waste of time, an obstacle to get through to get to the really good stuff: the story. But with no story to worry about I could fully immerse myself in the subtle, delicate writing style.

It’s that lack of a narrative, that uneventfulness, which ties together all the stories. The characters’ imaginations take them on a course that their life never actually does – Shelley expects the worst news about her son, Alec expects the worst news about his sister, Ally takes an unnecessary risk, Kirsten acts without thinking – and they all come out the other side unscathed.

But although the worst never does happy, it doesn’t prevent an overwhelming sense of misery in all the stories. From the slow, introspective writing style and the dreary normality of the lives being portrayed. The dramatic life-defining crescendo might seem the more emotional of the two options but Tessa Hadley articulates so well the quiet melancholy of everyday life that it becomes far more relatable and therefore far more affecting.

This week I’ve been reading… Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (and I won’t be sleeping again)

I’ve been on a bit of a thriller hype the past few months. It had always been a genre I’ve avoided because, well, I’m a massive scaredy-cat. But I couldn’t ignore all the clamour being made about Girl on the Train so I jumped on that bandwagon. And loved it.

It seems obvious to say it, but it was so gripping, couldn’t-put-it-down, a-real-page-turner – just all the clichés.

And the more thrillers I read the more arrogant I was getting because I just wasn’t finding them that scary. They had moments that made me tense up but nothing that was actually keeping me up at night. I was really starting to think that I had got over my wimpiness.

Well, Dark Places, I take it all back.

An irrational phobia of reviewing books

I didn’t start this blog as a place to review books. I thought my book content would be all lists, comparisons, thoughtful pieces on the way YA fiction has evolved, well considered arguments on why Mansfield Park is the best Jane Austen novel. And to start off it was mostly like that. I actually resisted writing reviews because, to quote myself, I wanted to be different to ‘every other book blogger doing a review of the books they read.’

But my originality dried up. Or, to put a nicer spin on it, I discovered reviews were quite fun to write. Sometimes because I love the book and need to shout about it every which way I can and others because the book is so horrendously bad that I need a place to let off steam.

This week I’ve been reading… Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

It has actually happened. I have read Gone Girl. After all those months of delays and excuses, reading every other thriller I could get my hands on apart from the one that started the whole craze, I finally pulled it off the shelf.

I’d been putting it off partly because I knew it wouldn’t be able to live up to this fearsome hype it’s amassed and partly because I expected it to be really scary and really addictive, the kind of book that needs a whole day set aside to just devour it and still have time to watch a Disney film afterwards to remind you that the world is in general a cheerful happy place.

Which comes first, the book or the film?

Like the age old debate of which came first, the chicken or the egg, so do we now discuss whether to watch the first watch the film or read the book.

Although it’s not really a discussion because obviously you should read the book first.

This week I’ve been reading… The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Read this book, my mum said. It’s really heart-warming, she said.

Heart-warming? Heart-warming?! I started tearing up on about page 50 and cried pretty much continuously until the very end.

The Classics Book Tag

I was sort of tagged to do this post by Jess at The Mud and Stars Book Blog. Well, I saw the tag on her blog. But I immediately knew I had to do it. I haven’t done any tags in ages because as much fun as they are to do they tend to have a heavy YA focus which isn’t a genre I read that much of. Classics however, now that’s a different story.

If I had to choose only one genre of book to read it would without a doubt be classics. Which is a bit of a sneaky choice really because classics aren’t really a genre – they cover all genres, they just happen to be old.

Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Funniest Books

I love an opportunity to reminisce about things that make me laugh. Because once I’ve found something funny odds are years later I’ll still be giggling at it – old jokes and Friends repeats and these ten books below (some of which haven’t had to stand the test of time yet but I’m confident they will). So this week’s Top Ten Tuesday was right up my alley.