We didn't start the fire

Up until I read Stephen King's It for the first time most of the books I read barely reached 300 pages long. The 1000-plus pages of It posed problems; the paperback didn't fit in my college bag, I couldn't read it lying in bed, and if I did I dropped it and lost my place.

Now, the next time I read It will be on my Kindle For Android app. For a very long time I slightly disagreed with the idea of electronic books and felt they weren't a suitable medium for books (despite Douglas Adams's propaganda). They just weren't 'right', even though 'right' in terms of books is the most personal and varied aspect. I have changed my mind, e-readers are fantastic, they offer up possibilities never before dreamt of (except in Douglas Adams's propaganda).

Now I am never without a book, my mobile phone has a copy of The Castle of Otranto on it for those moments when I am without a book book. I have downloaded free books and content from a great many sources (most recently pulling down several reports on attendance and attainment in HE students). Back in 2010 I bought a copy of Dune to read on an iPod Touch (not particularly enjoyable).

With a trusty red Hudl I can use Kindle properly. Today I bought three books for it, though I had been planning to do so for a month. First on the shopping list was Laura Bates's Everyday Sexism, a fantastic book on the opening months of the project. I would certainly suggest read it, especially if you want a more equal society. One commentator in the Guardian reviewed it by saying it 'didn't offer a solution' though I don't think the book or project is aiming for a solution; it is collecting information and data on what needs to be changed, not dictating the change needed.

Next up is a Alastair Reynolds Doctor Who book, The Harvest of Time. This features The Master (in my head, correctly, the Delgado version), and UNIT. I had though about some of Reynolds's other books (Absolution Gap being the next one I need to read), but something about him and the Doctor, and the moonlight highlighting meaningful glances (may be over the top with that description, I liked the look of it the first time I saw it).

The final purchase today was The Shorter Wisden 2014. I like cricket, I like reading about it, and I like reading Wisdens. This is perfect for me, something to dip into whenever I have a spare moment, a reminder of the dark humour of Wisdens and the wonderful stupid game of cricket (this edition, a collection of the best writing in the 151st edition, includes a section on Sachin Tendulka's retirement that notes his ability to undertsand that sport is  meaningless and important to many people).

While I enjoy the books the process of buying them isn't just 'right' though. May be that is just me, one-click purchases don't feel like I've bought books just pressed on button over and over again.