I Bought a Kindle

I am really joining the current century, having bought an iPhone and a Kindle in the last 2 months. The Kindle just arrived today. I had a twofold reason for buying it. First, I read a LOT and only certain books get re-read. I do like the feel of the pages of hardbacks, but paperbacks are frankly almost a one-time read anyway. So my thought is anything I would buy in paperback is probably better suited to the Kindle. They keep them on file so I can re-read more times than I could a physical paperback!

My second reason was a curiosity. My uncle is legally blind, can see bits and read things if they are printed in LARGE FONTS. We can exchange letters still because I print mine in 28 point font and then struggle to read his which are handwritten and wander a bit on the page. It takes a holistic approach. I read it all the way, sometimes not connecting phrases within the proper sentence until later because they wander on the page and it's unclear where they belong on an initial read. He's a writer and a reader, or was. I wondered if the Kindle might have font large enough for him to read. I'm not sure, at first glance. I wish they offered a really large font for visually impaired folks. However, the new one offers a text to speech option that at first glance is quite good!

I recently sent him a book on CD. I know it's hard to switch to oral processing and I suspect he is like me, primarily written word oriented. But we shall see. At 90, he's still game to try things just a bit out of his comfort zone, which I greatly admire.

Kindle books are about half the price of regular books so for anything you'll only read once, it's almost a no-brainer once you get past the initial hurdle.

Scarpetta - Patricia Cornwell

I'm on a total Scarpetta kick for some reason. It started when I bought Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta) and loved it. Then I decided to go back and read the whole series from the first book in the series, Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta). If you like crime novels, you have got to read these. You'll love the characters as much as the plot development.

I'm such a fan I even bought Food To Die For: Secrets From Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen, which actually has some great recipes in it.

What are your favorite crime series?

I think my first was the Deadly Sin series, The First Deadly Sin (The Deadly Sins Novels). Then I got into Elizabeth George I think.

Anyway, if you've somehow missed the Scarpetta series, pick one up and read it! I think you could jump in anywhere, but of course, it's fun to start from the beginning and watch the characters develop. One of the unique things, I think, about this series, is that while one mystery is solved, there is often a few loose ends that do not get tied up neatly at the end of each book. A serial killer, Temple Gault, shows up in several books.

Childhood favorites

Steve Leveen at Well-Read Life has a nice post remembering a teacher that had a big impact on him by reading aloud. It brought back many fond memories of books and stories that have really connected as I read them. Most of my reading has been on my own, silently to myself. I still have a hard time LISTENING to stories. But I really loved reading aloud to my children when they were younger. Alas, we seem past that time now. But at least we're all reading on our own. How dreary life would be without stories!

I'm currently rereading a favorite series from the beginning, Patricia Cornwall's Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta) series, which I think is good no matter where you begin. But if you like the newest, which I thought was fantastic, jump back in time and read some of the older ones. It's fun to see the characters evolve and change.