I used to do this sort of book blog called Simon's Reader. The last one was published in September of, ooh ... it seems like a decade ago. As much as it feels as though it was in the 90s; I think the time that I wrote it was actually in September of 2009.

I've been doing this other sort of writing recently. Yes, a new Duran Duran album. It's pretty much occupied my entire brain capacity for at least the greater part of last century, and now well into this one. Yes, the mighty, yet surprisingly vulnerable, third millennium.

"Oh is that the time?" I coyly ask.

Using his scythe for a toothpick , the grin reaper finds and removes a morsel of human that's been irritating him for days from his gumless jaws. "YES" he booms - actorly, Shakespearian.

"I just got stuck in these ... lyrics."

The lightning strike misses by inches, the ear-splitting crack simultaneous, and my life flashes past someone else's eyes.

Sorry, I think I just nodded off for a moment.

I am currently reading "Notes From A Small Island", Bill Bryson's genius look from the perspective of an American anglophile at this country, Great Britain that is.

Hahaha; I don't think that I've laughed out loud as much since, well, since I read something else, but that was such a long time ago I quite forget what it was.

As of this afternoon when I leave the studio after having laid down the final vocal on this record, I will officially be able to begin reading again.

And ... I bought myself an Amazon Kindle. Now, I'm fairly old school about how I read and have resisted electronic books quite determinedly since they arrived on the scene a few years back. But now I have relented. Hey, that's not to say that I won't change my mind a few reads down the line. But I'm getting on quite well with this vey usable piece of equipment. The new Kindle has a matt screen with "electronic ink" their words not mine, that you can read with the sun shining down on it. I also bought a jazzy cover in what I would describe as Hermes orange. And this cover, it has an small integral reading light, which ingeniously connects to the K's battery to illuminate the page. That means - I can read it in low light situations, such as on a night flight or, more pertinently - in bed WITHOUT waking up you know who. Yes, I've been cohabiting with Lord Voldemort for a while; I've been meaning to tell you all, and well now it's just slipped out, if you'll pardon the rather unfortunate turn of phrase.

But that's not all. Easily the best thing about this Kindle is that I got the 3G model, which means that I can access the Kindle Store from pretty much anywhere, to download new reading material. You must understand. This is all terribly exciting.

Get this - the bit of Bill Bryson which made me laugh so much was a free sample of the first chapter. However, I have, as you'd imagine, subsequently bought and downloaded the rest of the book.

The downside:
You don't really get a cover as such.
All books have the same typeface.
You don't leave a trail of bent, dog-eared pages, a physical record of you progress through the work. This is osmething which helps me slip into the mood of the thing I'm reading.

And most of all, at the end of your reading, you don't get to pass on a well thumbed paperback to a friend, or leave it on a train for somebody else to pick up.

Anyway, I'm trying it out; I'll tell you what I think soon, I mean later!

whooosh
s