As well as reviewing books, I like to talk about books, reading and anything to do with the written word. Below are links to some of my more popular posts...
When e-books and digital readers first came out I was horrified. Who on earth would trade in a trusty paperback for a computer screen? How are you supposed to get comfortable in front of a computer? And what about bookstores and libraries? Are my days of spending hours drifting happily between stacks of books, running my hands across the spines of volumes of untold secrets and knowledge on their way out? Panic rose up and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I imagined this world without printed books. It was not a pretty vision... [read more]
This is something I've not yet been able to personally understand - people plugged into their MP3 device who are reading at the same time. It truly flummoxes me. Are these people reading with the music as background noise or are they skimming the book whilst rocking out to whatever they might be listening to. I have considered, of course, that they might actually be listening to the audiobook of the book in front of them but I somehow doubt that's the case for the majority of these musical multi-taskers and because of that, they fascinate me...
As a pint-sized bookworm I read whatever I could get my hands on but majority of what I cut my literary teeth on as a nipper were the many and varied works of the one and only Enid Blyton. I fantasized about being in the Secret Seven, I wished I went to school at a boarding school and I have a vivid idea of what Toffee Shocks, Pop Biscuits and Google Buns taste like. I absolutely worshipped Enid Blyton... [read more]
I came across this on the bookcrossing forums and thought that it was just too good not to share. The good folks in the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip, near Wells, Somerset came up with a fantastic use for their decommissioned red telephone box. They turned it into the world's smallest library, a place where locals can bring along a book and swap it for another already on the shelves. What a wonderful idea - and kind of fun, given that despite the upgrades in technology the good old book is still going strong. These folks sure win my vote for Most Awesome Village... [read more]
When it comes to over-hyped books I am the Ebeneezer Scrooge of readers. Bah humbug, I declare. You won't catch me reading that! I proceed to shun said hyped book until it has been forgotten by the rabid media dogs or it gets proven to be a genuinely good book by those with a half-decent opinion of what a good book looks like. Some might call me a book snob, but I just know what I like to read and don't fancy wasting X amount of hours on a book just because everyone else is reading it unless it's actually worth it. If you could see the size of my "To be read" pile you'd understand... [read more]
I came across this BBC article a couple of days ago and it got me thinking about reading. Back in the days of yore, folks used to gather around campfires and entertain each other by telling stories but the advent of the industrial revolution and capitalism boiled this love of stories down into the individualised package that we know and love today: the novel. Ostensibly, this made reading an individual endeavour - if you've ever tried to co-read a book in a short-resourced English Lit class in high school, you will know why - but the social aspect out of sharing our stories is still very much there... [read more]
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