Earlier this month my DH went to China for a couple of weeks so we broke down and finally got him a Kindle. Well, it was more like I dragged him kicking and screaming into getting a Kindle. (No, I don't have one but I'd gotten one for my elderly mother and drilled her in how to use it so I knew pretty much all about them.) My husband went from being a reluctant Kindle owner to an avid Kindle owner. He travels a LOT and he was always packing piles of paperbacks in his luggage. Sometimes he'd run out and wind up buying more paperbacks and carting them home. (One reason we quite literally have thousands of them.) He loved just having the Kindle to pack when going to China. He loved that he had 90 books loaded into it. (All but one of them free.) He's in Washington state now and didn't even look at packing paperbacks, just stuck his Kindle in his carryon. As far as the ipad goes, yes it does a lot more than a Kindle does BUT, I wouldn't recommend it for reading for long periods of time. The display screen of a Kindle really does look like a printed page....a printed page taht you can adjust the text size. An ipad or any tablet thing like that will be backlit and while that might make it easier for you to read in a roomw ith no lights, it'll also tire your eyes more....just like reading a computer screen all day.

I'm in the middle of Mary Gentle's 1610: A Sundial in a Grave. It's been marketed as an historical fantasy/adventure pastiche that involves plots to kill both Henry of Navarre of France and James I of England -- and is all that -- but I think more important is its exploration of gender and sexuality. Some might find the romantic relationship a bit too deviant, but I'm finding it quite profound the further it progresses. It's the kind of book that should have been nominated for a Tiptree award, but I don't find it on any Tiptree shortlist. And have I mentioned that Mary Gentle really knows how to write a good sword fight?

I am just about in the middle of Jodi Picoult's "Handle With Care". I really like her books, she is very good at what she does, shows how everyday people handle life altering situations. I always feel like I've learned something, too. Joan Eileen, you might also like "The Nightingale" by Kristen Hannah. It also takes place in France during World War II. She is another of my favorite authors, I've read a number of her books, including "True Colors" . I thought it was the best yet until I read "The Nightingale" , it has far surpassed any previous book. In my humble opinion, anyway. Rusty

Kathy I only put a capital 'C' to emphasise the importance to the UK of the Old Empire. ;-) When we were children we thought bugger was the naughtiest word there was. Of course there is far worse flowing from the mouths of infants these days . . . Check out on youtube with 'Toyota ad' + 'bugger'