What I learnt this week: 25th May 2017

A real book

Are you a Kindle addict? Or do you believe a book isn’t a book unless it’s a paperback? Or are you like me, and lie somewhere in between.

In praise of the Kindle:

  • No more choosing between shoes or books, clothes or books when I go on holiday. I can take a hundred books with me and still stuff my case with all those shoes and clothes I absolutely can’t do without (but will end up not wearing).
  • Ebooks are cheaper. Some are free. So I can dabble with new authors without fear of breaking the bank.
  • When you pick it up again, you’re at the right page – no swearing over lost bookmarks or pages that fail to turn down.
  • My Kindle is back lit so when I wake in the middle of the night (as I do these days, thanks to age and hormones) I can read without disturbing my hubby. Mind you a thunderstorm doesn’t disturb him, either.
  • As my eyes get old (not the rest of me, you understand, just the eyes) I can increase the size of the font – no need to reach for the reading glasses.

In praise of the paperback:

  • There is something real, tangible about holding a book.
  • Choosing a book in a shop is a pleasure. Picking them up, scanning the back covers, moving on to the next one. It’s so much more rewarding than pouring over a computer screen. Just like on-line grocery shopping is convenient, yet not nearly as satisfying as seeing the food, touching it, smelling it, before you buy.
  • Books are pretty. They are pleasing on the eye and to the touch. They look good on a book shelf, giving a room a cosy, homely look…though the Fifty Shades of Grey may be better kept on the Kindle.
  • When I see my book on a Kindle, the words don’t look too dissimilar to those I’ve been reading on my computer. When I see them in a paperback, it looks like I’ve written a proper book.

So why am I rambling on about this today? Well, my publisher has just told me that I’ll have two paperbacks out this year; Before You (August) and A Second Christmas Wish (November).

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So as much as I love my Kindle, I can’t wait to see my new paperbacks. Then I can slot them into my bookshelf, alongside books by my writing heroines (like Nora Roberts, Jilly Cooper, Erica James, Katie Fforde) – and feel like a proper author.

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