To Kindle or not to Kindle?

It has taken me some time to accept Kindles fully, but I am a convert: my Kindle has rescued my commute from a deluge of grimy free newspapers or shoulder ache from fat paperbacks. My Kindle is full of my comfort reads (Jane Eyre, a variety of Wilkie Collins books, Rebecca, etc.) and can take a waiting list of more recent popular reads (Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies, Gone Girl, etc.). And this has changed how I buy book – now it is more “picture” books that I will acquire in physical copy, such cook books and travel guides. No more will my house be cluttered with books I bought and now regret, like the awful and ubiquitous Da Vinci Code and One Day. Plus the Kindle battery lasts for ages, unlike my frustrating new iPhone, and the backlight on my “Paperwhite” model allows me to continue reading when my train lights cut out with alarming frequency. In fact, I struggle to remember why I was so resistant to get one in the first place… 

Have you made the switch too? And what’s on your Kindle?

Pulitzer my leg!

I had mixed feelings when I heard that Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch” has won the Pulitzer Prize. Although the hardback was suitably heavy, this quick read did not seem to be sufficiently poignant to win big.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this flawed book. It was a page turner and easy to read while sleepy-eyed on my morning commute. The start is explosive, both literally and emotionally, when