I am... a Kindle reader

Photo by Asal Lotfi on Unsplash

Much to the disgust of many of my friends, I have been a Kindle reader since it came out over 15 years ago. The three arguments that have kept me so are:

• A lot of what I read is not worth sawing down Canadian forests for

• I love to read numerous books at once, depending on where I am and what my mood is

• It is so much easier to read in bed than a book

Nevertheless, a friend of mine, Charlotte, recently published the findings of a study that stated readers of IRL books remember more than when they read e-books. That made sense because I remember handwritten notes much better than typed notes. So, maybe the tactility of books helps the brain to remember more. 

Then there is the fact that our dear daughter spent a laborious two days doing magic on our bookshelves in the living room. I rediscovered a slew of books to read again. And finally, since we have been with Amazon since it was only a bookstore, we have shamefully bought hundreds of books, so we can either reread some of them or order books at our local store.

Now, the punchline to this post...

I was rereading a favourite book of mine and was so enthralled with the story that I caught myself tapping the side of the page instead of turning it.

Artemis Fowl (Book 1)

Just came back from a few days away down to southern Germany. Golden warm south,



Lovely. But, I missed the blues of north,



Spending this day making collages and listening to a wonderful reading of Artemis Fowl's first book.

I love this children's fantasy series. If you like fantasy books and do not know the series, or if you have children >10 years, do yourselves a favour and give it a try.

Social media as it's best

Once again the Guardian has made a master stroke in setting standards of how social media can mix with news media and the publishing industry to come up with something brilliant. A few weeks ago, they launched a Children's Book platform.

If you are a child (16 and under), a parent, teacher, favourite aunt, dotting grandparent, or just someone who wants to help children to learn the joys of reading... do go to the site and spend some time there.

Can you imagine anything more rewarding than helping a child discover the wonders of books?

Slowly getting back into gear

I am just about ready to crawl off the sofa and over the large pile of discarded books that I have consumed these last weeks... nearly three weeks of a book a day... most of them crime mysteries... all of their stories have haunted my dreams. My inner batteries have been recharged. Now it is time to get back into the grove of things.

A Special Deal

It being Sunday and a very sunny warm one at that, I want to offer you a special deal. I have in the last months bought and read two very interesting mystery series:

The Maisie Dobbs mystery series (4 paperbacks), by Jacqueline Winspear

and,

The Erast Fandorin mystery series (4 paperbacks), by Boris Akunin

The former takes place post WWI London and the later towards the end of the 19th century, in settings all over the European continent and beyond. I find the development of both protagonists many faceted and, as far as I can judge, historically authentic. I also enjoyed that all the books were interesting piece of writing in their own right.

If any one is interested in reading one of the series, please let me know and I will send you the four paperbacks by pony express. It doesn’t matter where you live, the books are light and if you are willing to wait for the package to arrive, I’d be delighted to pass them on. The only condition to the offer is you pass on the books after you have finished.

After note: Nomad Son has been sorting through his bookshelves yesterday and today. He is using the program GuruLib to aid him in this endeavour. He has just put in the first 100 books, but I think it sort of gives you a sense of why such a program might be nice to use.

Reading Endangers Dullness

On the way home from work, I got off the bus a few stops early and went to my two favourite shops. First, the natural food store, to pick up the condiments for dinner: white asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, potatoes, a mixed salad with fresh dates, mango, and avocado.

Then, my favourite local bookseller, Catarina to pick up some books I ordered in German:

• Measuring the World, by Daniel Kehlmann
• Nachtrichtnen aus einem unbekannten Universums (literal translation: News from an unknown Universe), by Frank Schaetzing (who also wrote The Swarm: A Novel of the Deep)
• The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless, by Ahmet Zappa (his father, Frank Zappa, was one of my teenage heros)
• Die Rückkehr des Hexenmeisters (literal translation: The Return of the Witch Master), by Kai Meyer

Catarina has some tote bags from a large publishing company with the printed slogan “Lesen gefährdet die Dummheit” on them. This loosely translates as Reading Endangers Dullness. Though Dummheit is much more than just dullness: fatuity, brutishness, foolery, stupidity, etc.

My dear friend, Maria, two of her daughters, Nomad Son, Nature Girl, and I are all converging Friday on Rosa in Berlin for the long weekend. So, my first and only thought, as far as travel preparations goes, was to secure proper reading material for the journey.

Berlin is slowly but surely becoming one of my favourite big cities. There is a large street festival going on in Kruezberg this weekend, which should be lots of fun.