Hey peeps

We’re back home again after a summer that can only be described as instant. It went too quickly and now, instead of gazing out over mountains and listening to buzzing insects, I look out over the neighbour’s garden whilst listening to Guns n Roses. This post was supposed to be all about my first sourdough starter, but it’s not ready yet so I thought I’d freewheel a little about different mediums of reading books.

My prefered way is, and has always been, paperbacks, or indeed hardbacks. Our house is filled with books of every genre and size and I love glancing at them, remembering the stories they hold. They are a little like LPs, every page hold memories and the more worn they look, the more loved they have been. And you can pick them up second hand which is a real bonus.

My husband’s daughter Sapphy had a first edition Harry Potter, she got them delivered every time they came out when she was little. Whilst in Italy, on holiday, hubby dropped it in the hotel swimming pool and it is even now, many many years later, she still mentions it from time to time.

It took me a long time before I, very begrudgingly, started reading Kindle books. Mostly because I could have instant access to research books I needed for some story or other. They seem rather cold to me, they tell a story but somehow it doesn’t seem permanent, like a normal book. And you can’t lend them to friends. What I do like about them is that they don’t take up any space and I can bring them with me on hols without having to check in luggage and obviously, as an Indie author, they are my lifeblood in book sales. I should probably say many more good things about them for that reason alone.

Now, about six months ago I started listening to audio books and they have changed my life. No longer do I have to read thick volumes of research materials, I can listen to them whilst wallpapering, I can listen to books like the Beekeeper of Aleppo whilst strimming our wild lawns in Italy and have Elizabeth Moss live the The Handmaid’s Tale whilst I lie entranced on a sunlounger. I have spent more money on Audible books than I care to think about but almost every moment is worth it. Currently, I’ve got a 57!!! hour book about the rise and fall of the third reich on the go. I take it in stages.

Some people would probably say that Audio books don’t count as reading. To them I will say, you’re wrong, a book tells a story and it doesn’t matter how you absorb it. I don’t read less paper books just because I now listen to Audible, in fact, because I can listen to a lot of my reasearch, more time is left for amazing fiction.

I am currently running a poll on Twitter and paperbacks are winning but the difference between Kindle readers and Audible listeners aren’t that different. This can of course change in the hours remaining.

By the weekend, my sourdough starter should be finished and in the beginning of the week, a beautiful loaf or two should have magically appeared from the humble ingrediants used.

Ciao for now.

Marie