Kindling

I have owned a Kindle for a few weeks now, and find I have a love-hate relationship with it so far:

Love that my favourite, relaxing, unwinding and escapist reads (all the best crime and thriller writers) don't have to clutter up my physical bookshelves). The ones that I know I'll read again, I'll keep electronically: those I know will be read-once-only can be deleted.

I find it very interesting that the actual words seem to be more important on the Kindle than in a physical novel. Maybe I'm more patient with a struggling (or bad) plot if I have to keep turning the pages. With the Kindle I have hit the "remove from this device" button within a couple of pages, rather than struggling through horrible non-literature just because I bought the darn thing and carried it home.

BUT, and it's a big BUT... I don't like being unable to share or pass on or donate my books, once read. There's something satisfying about handing on a book to someone else, "here, I think you'll like this one", and you just cannot do that with the Kindle. You can't even leave a copy of a bad romance in the back of an airplane seat for the next passenger to need a break from travel-monotony.

And it will never, ever replace my collection of hard-backed gardening and design books. They have to be lifted and weighed and enjoyed in all their colourful glory.

So I'm still debating... but in the meantime just downloaded the latest Peter Robinson. In time for bedtime.