“I’d love to read your novels but I don’t have a Kindle.”
As my friend said this, her five year old son brandished an iPad and his friend an iPhone.
In some camps there’s still great resistance and even ignorance to e-readers. When taxed why they oppose them, people wax lyrical on the romance of the printed word, the homeliness of the feel of the paper, the soothing act of turning pages and the warmth that bookshelves bring to a room. Before I bought an e-reader, I felt all that too.

But then I looked around at the mounds of books, not only on shelves but on top of the piano, on the kitchen bench and to the side of the dining table. They’ll probably never be opened again. Every time we move house I pack them into boxes cursing.

I do most of my reading in bed or at least lying down. There’s nothing our dog likes more than cuddling down for a read for the afternoon. But I’ve always had weak wrists and without doubt the weight of a large tomb wilts to my nose and snoring.

And as to the feel of a book, the dry paper under the thumbs, there’s nothing better. But many books have been so badly made that after five years the pages yellowed, the once crisp print bleeds and the ageing spines go brittle like bones stripped of calcium. Snap. The pages flutter to the floor, out of order.

And despite a librarian-esque arrangement in alphabetical order, when the lights go out, books walk the halls of the house by themselves. I’ve found Margaret Atwood Alias Grace in the pantry, Sophie’s Choice in the bathroom, and Atonement was AWOL for two years until it turned up in the linen press. I can’t repeat what I’ve found under the bed! Some titles I’ve even bought again because I’d given up looking for them and then found them, under the hood of the piano or on the floor of the car. My e-reader can house 3500 titles in the palm of my hand, wrapped in a hot red cover for easy discernibility.

And pretty much everyone already has an e-reader.

If you have an iPad, a smart phone, any Tablet, a PC or a MAC you can download a FREE program to allow you to taste this pleasurable sensation.

For Kindle visit – http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=dig_arl_box?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

For Nook – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/free-nook-apps/379002321/

And e-readers are so cheap, you’ve paid for it with what you save on 5 or so novels.

Go on. Knock yourself out. It’s just another way to read. And check out the free samples of novels. I’d love to hear what you think of them.