As most of you know, I'm about to jet off on an extended trip. When planning adventures abroad, normal people tend to worry about currency exchange and what sorts of clothes to pack. Bookish people just fret about how they're going to carry two months' worth of reading material when the baggage allowance is only 20kg!
My solution has been to invest in something I never thought I'd do: buy an electronic reader. In the past I've experimented with a first generation Sony eReader and not found it very enjoyable. This time I've opted for a third generation Amazon Kindle, which I've blinged up with this removable decal from a fabulous little company in the US called DecalGirl. (I was most impressed that my order took less than a week to arrive using their cheapest shipping option. And it took all of 30-seconds to stick on my Kindle, with no air bubbles or other problems whatsoever.)
I've not actually used the Kindle properly yet. I opted for the cheaper version, but soon wished I'd spent another £40 for the free 3G, because typically I couldn't get it to connect to our Apple wireless router. In fact, our Apple wireless router is so secure, I don't even think M16 could crack it. The only solution is to bypass the router completely and connect directly with our BT home hub, which means a lot of faffing about whenever I want to download books.
But that's probably a good thing. If it was easy as a click of a mouse button it wouldn't take me long to drain my entire bank account filling up my Kindle with hundreds and hundreds of books!
As it was, I set myself a budget of £50 and together with all the free downloads (yes, there are loads of free books downloadable from Amazon), I've now created a virtual TBR which should keep me going for a bit.
Here's what I have purchased:
- The Complete Works of Jane Austen
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
- The Last Man by Mary Shelley
- What Does China Think? by Mark Leonard (non-fiction)
- Red Dust by Ma Jian (non-fiction)
- Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang (non-fiction)
- The Ancient Ship by Zhang Wei
- The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
- Faithful Place by Tana French
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
I don't think this device will ever replace my love of traditional books, but as a way of carting around a little library without the weight, I'm hoping it's a temporary godsend. I'll keep you posted as to what I think of the Kindle when I begin using it properly...
