I’ve just finished my first e-book, and I’m never reading an actual-book, ever again¹. Jonathon Franzen’s The Corrections is five-hundred-and-something pages long. It would have been beyond me if I hadn’t been gifted – care of my mother’s Westpac Hotpoints – an e-reader for my birthday this year.
What a joy it is to be able to read for a decent amount of time again. I’ve got so many horizontal hours at my disposal these days, but tv-on-the-internet has dominated my resting time, because it’s hard to find an angle that suits my neck, arms and shoulders. Now, though, I can read in all kinds of different positions. I can even read on the bus, because I can casually throw my book in a bag, knowing that its weight won’t break the muscle-bank when I transfer my things to and from my walker.
My second light reading revelation comes care of my sister Kath and her partner Andrew. They kindly bought me a six-month subscription to The Listener, a publication that meets the ‘light’ criteria in more ways than one. People scoff a bit at The Listener, and to be fair, it has its flaws. The ‘feature’ articles usually read more like padded lists of quotes, the editorials are a bit right-wing, and there’s scarcely a page not graced by a getty-image. Despite its shortfalls, though, The Listener is a nice collection of interesting tid-bits written by (mostly) good columnists. It’s possibly worth the $4.30 for Diana Witchell and Jane Clifton alone. I really look forward to the arrival of my new issue every Monday, and not just because it’s light enough to prop up on the arm of the couch while I eat breakfast.
In the interest of maintaining an optimistic outlook, I’m going to try and write a ‘glad’ post for every ‘sad’ post.² And I’m definitely glad for gifts like e-books and The Listener. Sometimes little things are big things.
This thing's got legs 