When is a book not a book? --- When it's a Kindle!

I have been an avid book lover for as long as I can remember. I have no memory of not being able to read. As you can imagine, therefore, I have a large quantity of books. This has only one major drawback: You can't carry them all around with you.

Despite this obvious issue, I wasn't sure about the arrival of e-books and the Kindle. I like to feel the weight of a book in my hands, feel the pages beneath my fingers and then there's the smell of book both new and old. I can't imagine the Kindle giving you any of that.

And now I own one.

Have I changed my tune though? True it has now earned a permanent place in my bag along side the ipod - the main reason being I can now carry hundreds of books around with me in my pocket and it weighs no more than a single one and is distinctly less bulky. And true, I now read book I hadn't read before because they were cheaper or even free. I can't deny that I love the thing.

Has it altered my love of books? No. It hasn't. There is still nothing that beats the physical book, only now I can be more discerning, trying snippets of books if I'm not sure and, if I love them insanely in Kindle edition (see Captivating, Enchanting, Sublime  - below) then I can buy them in hard copy - and I can bare to wait for the paperback.

What the Kindle has done, therefore, is to enhance the enjoyment of reading, and allowed the greater choice whilst on the move.

Amazon - I salute you!

Captivating, Enchanting, Sublime.

It has been some time since I last felt the need to post anything. The inspiration had somewhat gone...until I finished reading the fantastic 'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern. Having been given the wonderful gift of a  kindle this is the first book I bought, based on review in the Sunday Times Culture. I can't say what exactly about the review caught my attention - but I remembered the book.

'The Night Circus' oozes with a vibrancy that sucks you in and holds you from the first page to the last. What at first appears simple and straightforward is, in fact, a spiders web of connections that never ceases to end. 

The characters Morgenstern creates are so real I felt as if I knew some of them. Some of them are less easy to understand, but it is entirely fitting that they remain so. When describing the circus in particular, Morgenstern shows just how wonderful her imagination is, taking the reader to places that even they had never dreamed of. 

This book is more than merely magical. It as enchanting as the characters within it. You feel their loss, their pain and their joy and the finale brings so many emotions together in a beautiful compliment - sadly to tell anything of the plot here would utterly destroy it. This book needs to be read with as little prior knowledge as possible.

This is one of those books you wish you could have written yourself. A stunning debut from a talent to watch. Erin Morgenstern has brought the magic back into reading again.