Tag Archives: Ebook

May 3, 2014 · 4:23 pm

eBooks in Libraries: Worth the Investment?

For the printed book purist, the mere suggestion of libraries lending eBooks conjures up images of empty shelves, redundant librarians and tumbleweeds drifting across abandoned buildings. However, leaving aside sentimental arguments about the superiority or inferiority of the different formats, the reality is that many libraries now offer a selection of eBooks available for download. Although eBook lending is growing, several questions need to be asked about the future development of this new technology. Most importantly, with so many libraries under significant financial pressure, are eBooks actually worth the investment?

eBooks and libraries

Continue reading →

25 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 28, 2013 · 4:57 pm

Am I A Book Snob?

This week, I found a very interesting post by Amanda Nelson on an awesome website called Book Riot which lists the sort of things that a stereotypical book snob might say and then a “translation” for what they really mean. It’s a very humorous and tongue-in-cheek piece which isn’t meant to be taken very seriously but it got me thinking about book snobbishness and which statements are the sort of things that I might say…

E-reading isn’t REAL reading. = I need my personal preferences about my hobby to be validated as the only right and moral way do to a thing.

Not guilty.  I read printed books and I read eBooks.  As I have said elsewhere, e-readers are great for travel but I still read a lot of printed books. Continue reading →

30 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

May 2, 2013 · 6:40 pm

Books I Have Neglected

A little while ago, I wrote a post about the books I will probably never read (unless I break a leg or something, in which case I might give them a try).  I also have a list of other books which have been sitting on my shelves for months or years which I really do plan to read.  My good excuse is that I have been trying to make the most out university libraries which I will only have access to until the end of September so my official reading list and my Kindle have been neglected for a very long time.  My poor excuse is that I am also a pretty terrible procrastinator even when it comes  to getting round to things I enjoy like reading.

Books I Have Neglected

Continue reading →

22 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

February 13, 2013 · 7:37 pm

Are Libraries Killing Bookshops?

Terry DearyI read an interesting article in The Guardian today in which Terry Deary, author of the Horrible Histories series, claims that libraries ‘have had their day’ and that the concept behind them, namely offering the impoverished access to books, no longer applies in an era of compulsory education.  I have a feeling his views are only shared by a tiny minority of people. Continue reading →

23 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

February 1, 2013 · 2:20 pm

Why Libraries Are Important

I know I am preaching to the converted here but I still need to say it: libraries are important.

I have been a member of the library since I was three years old.  My nearest local library closed down nearly two years ago despite being the third most used in the borough.  It has been replaced by a mobile library service which now visits the town just once a week for an hour and a half on a Friday afternoon.  Further cuts are being made to opening hours and the number of trained staff as well as a reduction in the purchase of new books.  This situation is being repeated up and down the country. Continue reading →

20 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , ,

December 26, 2012 · 2:26 pm

Merry Christmas

Welcome to my 100th post!  I got a Kindle for Christmas this year.  I wasn’t that bothered about HD, 3G, colour screens and lights and all the other fancy accessories so I just got the standard model with an E Ink screen and bought a leather cover for less than £2 from eBay this morning.  I haven’t put any eBooks on it yet but will make sure I get it well stocked very soon…

Kindle

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

August 30, 2012 · 7:39 am

Freshly Pressed!

After less than six months of blogging, I’VE BEEN FRESHLY PRESSED!!!  

Thank you to WordPress for choosing my post and thank you to everyone who has had a look at my Little Blog especially my very dedicated followers for posting so many comments and generating quite a lot of debate on some of my posts!  I start my Master’s degree very soon so I might not be posting quite so frequently over the next few months but I will still try and blog as regularly as I can!

Also, it is going to take me hours to reply to everyone’s comments on my Freshly Pressed post on eBooks which are still coming in thick and fast so please bear with me on that!  Thanks again, you’re all lovely 🙂

19 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 28, 2012 · 6:53 pm

The Rise of eBooks: evil or essential?

The eBook debate continues to rage incessantly and provoke some very important questions.    Is the controversy less about the value of books and more about the development of modern technology?  Who are the winners and the losers in this supposed eBook revolution?  Does it really matter what format books are available in?  For many people, it certainly does.

Although I don’t actually own an e-reader yet, I do plan to get a Kindle soon (hopefully for Christmas this year) after borrowing my sister’s one earlier this summer.  I will be using it almost exclusively for when I’m commuting by train as it is the practical side of e-readers which appeals to me the most.


Source: The Guardian

Continue reading →

428 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

July 18, 2012 · 10:00 pm

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A Clockwork OrangeDisturbing, powerful and thought-provoking in equal measure, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess tells the story of Alex, a 15 year old anti-hero in a dystopian future who carries out theft, rape and murder before ending up in prison where he is put through an experiment in an attempt to cure him.  Anyone who has tried to read my Kindle over my shoulder on the train to work this week will probably have regretted it. The book is pretty brutal. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

July 14, 2012 · 6:57 pm

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafón

The Shadow of the Wind‘The Shadow of the Wind’ by Carlos Ruis Zafón is a book that has been on my ‘Probably Won’t Buy But Might Borrow From Someone Someday’ book list for a very long time.  As I am still in possession of my sister’s Kindle, I finally read it this week.  Set in post-Spanish Civil War Barcelona, a young boy named Daniel comes across a novel by the mysterious author Julian Carax called ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ in the Cemetery of Lost Books.  The story of what happened to Carax slowly unravels through the book. Continue reading →

13 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

July 11, 2012 · 7:43 pm

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Today I read ‘Mockingjay’ by Suzanne Collins, the third book of the Hunger Games trilogy.  This final installment sees Katniss become a Mockingjay leading all the Districts in a rebellion against the Capitol.  Like with ‘Catching Fire’, I have slightly mixed feelings about ‘Mockingjay’.  I think this was because I didn’t really feel sucked in to the story even though this was the grand finale of the series.  For me, this was because Katniss was a pawn rather than an active participant in the war so I think it dragged a bit for that reason.  As for the Katniss-Gale-Peeta triangle, it seems like Collins has been trying so hard to avoid the obvious clichés that she forgot to develop the male characters properly which is something that has bothered me since the beginning because as a reader, I didn’t really care who she ended up with.   Continue reading →

7 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 10, 2012 · 8:15 pm

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Today I whizzed through ‘Catching Fire’, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  Uprisings against the Capitol have begun in several Districts and Katniss and Peeta compete in the Quarter Quell with previous victors for the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games.  I found this installment of the series to be reasonably compelling but not completely satisfying.

In some ways, ‘Catching Fire’ is an improvement on the first installment of the Hunger Games trilogy.  Right from the beginning, it seemed like a more confidently written book.   Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 7, 2012 · 4:17 pm

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

Nothing to EnvyI don’t own an e-reader so I borrowed my sister’s Kindle this week.  She lent it to me specifically so that I could read ‘Nothing to Envy’ by Barbara Demick which is based on accounts of life in North Korea.  Unsurprisingly, it is an extremely harrowing read.  Demick cleverly interweaves the stories of six North Korean defectors with descriptions of everyday life in North Korea including working in a hospital, life in a labour camp, reactions to the death of Kim Il-Sung, how people survived during the extreme food shortages in the mid-1990s and life after defecting from North Korea.

Demick’s absorbing account of a real life dystopia is both shocking and captivating.  The opening of the book is particularly striking.  At the beginning of the first chapter, the reader is confronted with a satellite image of North and South Korea taken at night-time (similar to the one below).  North Korea is almost entirely in darkness because electricity is so scarce.  But it didn’t always used to be like this.   Continue reading →

11 Comments

Filed under Books

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,