Originally posted by alonso
I've had a lot of pleasure from books over the years, not so much lately though.
All kinds of books - novels of course, European history, biographies, even tax law judgements when that was a part of my life. Theses days I favour short stories and collections of letters which I can pick up and put down as I wish.
What I tend to like most is something just gently humorous, quietly satirical, full of interesting observations.
At the moment I am delving from time to time (for the 2nd time) into John Galsworthy's "On Forsyte 'Change", a series of short stories about a very pecunious Victorian & Edwardian family and their times.
"Such historians as record the tides of social manners and morals, have neglected the bicycle. . . . . . . . Under its influence, wholly or in part, have wilted chaperons, long and narrow skirts, tight corsets, hair that would come down, black stockings, thick ankles, large hats, prudery and fear of the dark; under its influence, wholly or in part, have bloomed week-ends, strong nerves, strong legs, strong language, knickers, knowledge of make and shape, knowledge of woods and pastures, equality of sex, good digestion and professional occupation - in four words, the emancipation of woman."
Alonso,
Thanks for starting this thread. Been an avid reader all my life and still have a massive library of books at home.
HOWEVER being 70+ years young I have moved into the technological age and bought myself an A4 size tablet on which I have loaded thousands of books from various authors. I took it overseas recently and loved the ability to pick and choose what I wanted to read according to my mood. My wife, the troglodyte, chose instead to cart a few books she borrowed from the library and was stuck with those and had nothing else to read when she was done. She ended up borrowing books from the ship's library which was sad since most of the books were in Spanish. LOL
FYI a trick I have learnt. I have 2 monitors on my desk. I have turned one of my 24" monitors on its side and use it exclusively to read books. I download mainly pdf and set the books to read mode and page display to single page view and I have one full page on the screen at a time and turn pages like any book. Works for all files not just pdf. Good way to read comics also. Just finished re reading some old Tintin and The Phantom comics!!
Great for texts also. Rather than looking though the book for a reference, you just type what you want in find, and away you go!! If that text does not cover what you want, load up another book and search through it in seconds!!
Also a great fan of audio books while driving alone.
Just checked my calibre reader for the last few books I have had open.
How to Build a Billion Dollar App
No Spin by Shane Warne
Time Annual
ComputerActive
Wall Street Journal
Country Extra
Yorkshire Life
The Economist
etc etc.
