Folio Friday: Turns out I'm not a Technophobe.

Ok, Folio Friday isn't particularly catchy but i feel like alliteration is important in these cases. I had a theme, I had a day; all that was left was to check the online thesaurus for some synonyms. So there you have it.

I go through stages of remembering what I've read. Some years I write the title in my beloved moleskin diary as I finish it as a reminder of what and when. In one instance I've got two thirds of the way into a book - twice - before realising that I've read it before. This year I haven't even opened my moleskin so I need something else.

My enjoyment of what i read is peculiar. I can like something even if it's poorly written, has barely any plot and, most dreadfully, has typos. I struggle with listening to someone rip that book apart even though I agree with all their criticisms. 

Literature is art - it's subjective, it's personal.

And so this will be a log, of what I've read, what's on the list, and what i feel like writing about writing.

It surprises me a little that I feel like writing about the Kindle. It surprises me that I like the Kindle. 

I love books nearly as much as I love the written word. I enjoy cracking the spine of a new purchase (although that alone is likely to cause others immense suffering) and I like holding a book together because the hundred, maybe thousands of people before me have weakened the binding. 

I also like borrowing books. Partly (largely) because I'm a cheapskate, but also partly because I like the feeling of sharing a book. Even if we don't sit down for a deep analysis, i am joined to someone because we have both held that book and absorbed its words. I like the library. I love the stamp which tells me how long ago i should have returned it. I like browsing the returns trolley to see what someone else has just released back into the wild.

Having (not so) recently moved, my routine has been disturbed and I now longer have my Saturday morning session in the big library. My new library is small, limited, next to the station but nowhere near all the other places I visit on my weekend. I didn't even realise how rarely I visited until I kept finding myself confused with what to do on the train to work. Books were in short supply but I needed to read; I needed a story.

That's how i discovered my library's online collection. I borrow books and read them on my iPod Touch. The words are teeny tiny and I have to turn the page every few seconds, but the tales returned. There are of course limitations to what you can borrow (or download from the iBooks store) for free but I've been telling myself it's better than nothing.

Then this week, the Kindle entered my world. It all seemed so sensible - I asked for reading recommendations for a holiday and rather than carting a pile of books halfway around the world I borrowed a Kindle that would have been otherwise neglected.

I cannot tell a lie, I've loved it and I've grown quite attached to it, but I still don't think it's on my shopping list (though I haven't ruled it out for Christmas).

It is a beautiful thing. So many books in such a lovely sleek package. So many books just waiting to be read. I would have taken one book away with me and instead I read three and two halves - ain't technology great?! Yet for all of that, what warmed the cockles of my heart was going to the homepage and looking at what someone else had read and what was sitting there ready for them to begin.

So suddenly it's clear - that is what I'm missing on my iPod, that little niggle I have about the Kindle and strangely enough what I don't get from a bookstore. I'm not sure I realised it until I babbled it out to my audience of two ...

I love books, I mean I really heart them. But borrowing books is what keeps my world turning.