A Conversation for Ask h2g2
Petty Hates
KB Posted Oct 21, 2014
This is a bit more than a PH. It's actually really annoying (and I also think we've probably mentioned it before, either me or someone else).
But it's when you keep getting interrupted with a certain book, so much that it completely ruins your flow and you don't know where you are in it. What you'd really need to do is go back to the start and give it a clean sweep, but somehow you can't bring yourself to wade through the bubbles of familiarity you keep encountering.
Petty Hates
Cheerful Dragon Posted Oct 22, 2014
Conversely, reading a novel that's a real slog, but being determined to get to the end of it. As you get close to the end, you find yourself wondering if it's worth the hassle of finishing, but you'll miss the climax of the story if you don't finish it. (I'm going through this right now with Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis.)
Petty Hates
You can call me TC Posted Oct 22, 2014
Doesn't happen with a Kindle! The entire universe knows where you've got to. Wherever you are, if you switch on the Kindle, it will open at the page you last finished on, and if you are reading on another device, it will search the ether and tell you.
Which is a rather sinister thought, but so what? It's convenient.
Petty Hates
Cheerful Dragon Posted Oct 22, 2014
That only works if you have Airplane Mode off or Wi-fi on (newer models call it Airplane Mode, older ones Wi-fi). I don't always, so my Kindles get out of sync, although my apps don't (much). You also need to be within range of, and connected to, a wi-fi service.
Petty Hates
Pastey Posted Oct 22, 2014
I'm starting to get tempted to get a Kindle, but I don't buy enough new books to warrant it.
Petty Hates
quotes Posted Oct 22, 2014
Isn't the point here the problem about getting interrupted? It doesn't matter if you know exactly where you've got to, the 'flow' is ruined.
Petty Hates
KB Posted Oct 22, 2014
Yeah, that's it. If you keep getting distracted you end up at the stage where your eyes automatically follow the lines and you turn the pages, but you haven't taken anything in. Or rather, you haven't taken enough in to follow the book. You've just taken in enough to make it annoying to read again.
It's a bit like when you suddenly become aware that you've read the same line about seven times, and just think "Oh for SAKE!"
Petty Hates
Cheerful Dragon Posted Oct 23, 2014
Pastey, the problem I've had with my Kindle is that it's encouraged me to buy more books. Some have replaced paper copies. Just as many, if not more, have been new. I'm now in to Discworld, Flashman and the Game of Thrones series. I also read the Hunger Games trilogy, which I wouldn't have even glanced at if it hadn't been the Daily Deal. (I enjoyed it, BTW, but I found the ending disappointing.)
Buy yourself a Kindle if you can afford it. The price of the device isn't the issue. It's all the books you'll buy once you've got it!
Petty Hates
Sho - employed again! Posted Oct 23, 2014
on the other hand, having a Kindle full of books and a house stuffed to the brim of books has made me accept that you can get 20 or 200 pages into a book and decide: nope, not going to read any more. and cast it aside.
(although I still feel guilty about doing that)
Petty Hates
Pastey Posted Oct 23, 2014
That's another problem I have. I started the True Blood books a couple of years ago, and only managed two of them before I got distracted with something else. So the entire series (bought to me as a present) is sat on top of a bookcase glaring at me
I'm also half way through the second Game of Thrones book, which I think is plotting something with the True Blood books
Petty Hates
Cheerful Dragon Posted Oct 23, 2014
I know what you mean, Sho. I'm a finisher, which is why I stuck with Lucky Jim to the end. It's now on a pile of books destined for some charity or other.
Petty Hates
Sho - employed again! Posted Oct 23, 2014
it was weird at first but it is a very liberating feeling.
The worst one recently was casting aside a novel written by a friend of mine - it's really not my thing, unfortunately, although at first I thought it might be (YA fantasy)
Petty Hates
winnoch2 - Impostair Syndromair Extraordinaire Posted Oct 24, 2014
Speaking of Kindle; I'm new to them and one annoying thing I've found is that when I 'clicked' on a reference number hyperlink which took me to the end of the book, Kindle now thinks I've finished the book . So when I 'sync to furthest read' on another device it keeps taking me to the last few pages of references instead of the middlish where I'm reading. Can you tell kindle to forget this kind of thing?
Petty Hates
You can call me TC Posted Oct 24, 2014
There's a secret spot in the top right-hand corner which, if you find it, can make you a bookmark. Touch the "plus" sign and it'll mark the place. You can then find it in the "Go to" part of the main menu.
I think.
Petty Hates
Pink Paisley Posted Oct 24, 2014
My habit of 'having to have' new technology and gadgets.
The worst thing I ever bought? My Kindle.
PP.
Petty Hates
You can call me TC Posted Oct 24, 2014
Mine was a present. The only guilt I have is (1) the pile of paper-based literature gathering dust as I slip the tiny slate-sized Kindle into my handbag for convenience on trains and in doctor's waiting rooms and (2) the time spent reading it when I should be doing the housework.
Petty Hates
Sho - employed again! Posted Oct 24, 2014
I vacillated for ages and ages about a Kindle and in the end my parents gave me one for my birthday 3 years ago. And I absolutely love it (it's the slim, light 3G keyboard old one). I think a lot of the complaints I hear about Kindles from people at work is that they seem to want to use it to do stuff and use it as a tablet instead of just reading in colour.
Petty Hates
Deb Posted Oct 25, 2014
I've got the really old, keyboard-less kindle and I also love mine. It weighs the same as a paperback. It's black & white, but I don't need colour in my books anyway, and the lack of a keyboard doesn't matter as I tend to buy books on my work pc at lunchtime and just capture them when I get home.
My petty hate is how expensive it is to buy Discworld books for it!
Deb
Petty Hates
Cheerful Dragon Posted Oct 25, 2014
If I want to read in colour, I use the Kindle app on my tablet. Most books are just black and white, so colour is irrelevant.
I don't think the Discworld novels are expensive, not compared with other books I'm interested in (the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, for instance). They're just more than I can afford at the moment.
Key: Complain about this post
Petty Hates
- 13761: KB (Oct 21, 2014)
- 13762: Cheerful Dragon (Oct 22, 2014)
- 13763: You can call me TC (Oct 22, 2014)
- 13764: Cheerful Dragon (Oct 22, 2014)
- 13765: Pastey (Oct 22, 2014)
- 13766: quotes (Oct 22, 2014)
- 13767: KB (Oct 22, 2014)
- 13768: Cheerful Dragon (Oct 23, 2014)
- 13769: Pastey (Oct 23, 2014)
- 13770: Sho - employed again! (Oct 23, 2014)
- 13771: Pastey (Oct 23, 2014)
- 13772: Cheerful Dragon (Oct 23, 2014)
- 13773: Sho - employed again! (Oct 23, 2014)
- 13774: winnoch2 - Impostair Syndromair Extraordinaire (Oct 24, 2014)
- 13775: You can call me TC (Oct 24, 2014)
- 13776: Pink Paisley (Oct 24, 2014)
- 13777: You can call me TC (Oct 24, 2014)
- 13778: Sho - employed again! (Oct 24, 2014)
- 13779: Deb (Oct 25, 2014)
- 13780: Cheerful Dragon (Oct 25, 2014)
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