Wednesday, May 5, 2010

125. The heft of a kindle


Darting through the traffic, Grace dodged the black Panther as it was heft onto its stand, and stood on the threshold of the bookshop. Adjudging the layout, she headed down the far aisle beyond the ladder to the ‘Poetry’ section.

She trailed her index finger along the spines of the books standing haphazardly on the shelves. Her finger paused as she came upon a dull red-backed volume with the word ‘Paterson’ picked out on the spine. Grace eased the book from its resting place, and gingerly opened it. The antique scalloped pages were yellowed with age. Resting the evenly balanced tome in the palm of her hand, she buried her nose into its essence and took a long sweet draught.

Replacing the book on the shelf, she swung her satchel over her shoulder and stepped out onto the footpath. She would download a copy to her kindle later this evening.

6 comments:

Clytie said...

Ah the electronic age ... I'm sorry, but there's nothing like feeling the pages, inhaling the essence ... of a favorite book.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Nice one. I am beginning to like the thought of electronic books (the lower price and no more book cases to add to the library is one benefit). But books are also wonderful interior decoration and meditation ... there will also be some I buy in hard copy.

Hubbie is hanging out for his delayed birthday present ... an iPad due for release in Australia at the end of the month.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Oh yeh, the other reason is you can carry a whole library in a caravan without increasing the weight ... planning on being a grey nomad.

diane b said...

How do you read in bed with an electronic book. You can see i don't know much about them.

Julie said...

I have never used an e-book. I sort of doubt that I will. Maybe when I am 80 and need print about =200 ... but I guess I will be too old to learn new technology by now.

The first thing I do is smell a book. I think I would need to spray my kindle.

Joan Elizabeth said...

That's the joy of electronic books, perfect for reading in bed because they have their own "light" and the software is so clever these days it is very a book like experience. Not so good for in the bath though.

I've just got an iPhone .. love the way I can make the text bigger with a sweep of my fingers.