I have never read a digital book
The opening Paragraphs of The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay.
Iley Solomon was so entirely a Londoner that he was a human part of the great metropolis, a jigsawed brick that fitted no other place.
He was mixed into the mouldy mortar, an ingredient in the slime and smutch of its rat infested dockside hovels and verminous netherkins. He was part of its smogged countenance and the dark, cold mannerisms of the ancient city itself.
He was contained within the clinging mud and the evil smelling putrilage.
Ikey was as natural a part of the chaffering, quarrelling humanity who lived in the rookeries among the slaughterhouses, cesspools and tanneries as anyone ever born in the square mile known to be the heartbeat of London Town.
Ikey was completely insensitive to his surroundings, his nose not affronted by the miasma which hung like a thin, dirty cloud at the level of the rooftops. The effluvian smog rose from the open sewers, known as the Venice of drains, which carried a thick soup of human excrement into the Thames.
It mixed with the fumes produced by the fat-boilers, fellmongers, glue-renderers, tripe scrapers and dog skinners, to mention but a few of the stench makers, to make London’s atmosphere the foulest smelling place for the congregation of humans on earth.
The Potato Factory is the first book of a trilogy(The Potato Factory, Thommo and Hawk and Solomon’s Song) which spans generations and begins in London then moving on to the penal colonies in Tasmania in the 1840’s.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical novels.
The penal colonies sound quite pleasant after that.
I’ve read all of Dickens and Sherlock Holmes more than once,I suppose you could call them historical.
I only read real books preferably paperbacks.
This was a bit of an odd one as far as Enid Blyton was concerned. No Peeky the Pixie, no Saucepan man or Wizard Willy!
It dealt with social issues, delinquency, theft the courts and social services. Not very Secret Seven!
I know I read a slew of Enid Blyton books way back when…
Maybe I read that one, though I seldom remember the books I read.
Many a time I will borrow a book from the library, start reading it, then a way through it realise I have read the book previously.
I used to always be reading books. I read a lot of Stephen King in my 30s. Historical novels too. A memorable one being ‘Green Darkness’ by Anya Seton. I’ve read that one twice with a few years in between. I don’t read so much these days. Can’t give a reason why, just don’t have the interest. That’s not to say I don’t read any and when I do, it is on a Kindle.
We have thousands of books and thousands of DVD’s
Storage is becoming a problem
Digital books are a god send, as is film rental, but there’s something special about scanning along the book shelves looking for that favourite title to watch/read once more.
I’ve never owned an electronic book/kindle. I generally have enough trouble ensuring my phone is charged up. Maybe batteries on electronic books are more long lasting. At least real books can be chucked in a backpack or suitcase, read in the garden or on a beach and not be too worried about them. As I grew up using real books I prefer the physicality of turning a page. Although if I became used to a Kindle or something I’d maybe prefer it for the storage powers as I often flip between different books.
Nothing beats the pleasure of physical book. I don’t know if is is the weight of the thing, the art and impact of typeface, the aroma of the pages, or just the overall sensation of the words lifting off the pate, but I just process and enjoy physical books so much better. While I am not at all a pack rat, I tend to keep books like most women keep jewelry; they are all treasure to
@greengage, I am like you; I typically have several books in rotation at any given time. This is the current stack:
As a member of Brixton Library I used to borrow spoken word LPs - they had a wonderful collection of talks by people like George Bernard Shaw, Lloyd George, Bertrand Russell and so many more interesting people
Must agree, reading is reading, from a device or paper. I favor my Kindle Fire because I can take my 5,000 books anywhere, in my purse. Also nice to be able to increase font size when necessary and change the back lighting hues. Thinking about getting a Paperwhite Signature Kindle for the upcoming birthday gift to myself. Print books are annoying, ungainly, the dust cover are such a pain, too large to take along, always in the way, create clutter and cost even more as they need shelves to be on.
I have a Sony eReader but they ceased making them a long while ago leaving the market to just Kindle and Kobo (here at least). I know you can use a tablet but the unlit black and white of an eReader is better I think.
Personally I was a bit put off by Kindle because it was tied to Amazon until I discovered Calibre which manages just about any eReader and converts ebooks from any source to any format. If my Sony ever fails I would happily buy either a Kobo or Kindle as a replacement.
