Took a two week break but am ready to write again. I don't have anything all that momentous to say.
Just read somewhere that about 50% of adults (?) seniors (?) - some group - now have Kindles. We are reading "The Signature of All Things" aloud. It's the third book by Elizabeth Gilbert we have read, "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Committed" being the other two. She has others but I haven't read them. I highly recommend the three we have read.
Just today learned about "A Dead Man's Tale" by James Doss. It was highly recommended and I may get around to reading it sometime.
Kindles are good for trips. It is easy to carry 10 to 100 or even 1000 books in a single 10 oz. device. The Paperwhite version can keep a charge for weeks. The Kindle Fire can approximate the performance of an iPad for much less money. Kindle ebooks can be read on an computer or smart phone. I don't have a smart phone but my experience is that getting a Kindle ($69 for the least costly model) is worth doing for the reading. I did get the low cost model but rather quickly decided that I was accustomed to a touch screen, which surprised me and I bought the Paperwhite, which I like very much. I do recommend a good but reasonably simple cover for the device.
You probably realize that the ebooks are usually quite a bit cheaper than paper ones. Besides, many authors you may get interested in as you get older, not the latest, hottest ones, may be free. The Kindles and their ilk come with dictionaries that pop up quickly and easily when called so my vocabulary is slowly expanding. Nietzsche, William Blake, William James, all mentioned by Jacques Barzun as inspirational, have multiple Kindle works for free.
I want to mention that Audible.com has been purchased by Amazon and there is now a feature related to Whispernet, the Amazon cellphone network that delivers ebooks to your device. The feature coordinates listening and reading the same book in audio and print forms. That means Whispernet opens an audio book to the spot in the work where you left off reading. Personally, that is not a feature I make much use of. However, an effect of the project is that many books can be purchased in audio form read by a professional and excellent narrator for amazing prices. Audio books used to cost $20 or $30 or more but coupled with the purchase of a print book, the same book in audio may be offered at $2 or $3.
Graeme Simsion is a New Zealander, living in Australia. He is the author of "The Rosie Project", an excellent funny novel about a strict and cerebral professor of genetics who at age 39 is still working hard to find a wife. Dan O'Grady reads the audiobook with an Australian accent that I enjoy very much. The ebook is $1.99 and the accompanying audiobook is $3.95.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
