About twenty years back, I dipped my toes into eBooks, mostly out of curiosity. Reading on my old Handspring Visor, and later my iPhone, felt downright futuristic at the time. But as my eyes got a little older and middle age set in, I found myself leaning on eBooks more and more. The ability to bump up the font size and dim or brighten the screen just right? A lifesaver.
At first, I stuck with my phone and tablet, but after a while, I realized that staring into a screen blasting light into my eyeballs wasn’t the coziest way to enjoy a long read. That’s when I picked up a used Kindle with e-ink, and let me tell you, I never looked back. A few years later, I upgraded to a Kindle Paperwhite, which has been my trusty sidekick ever since.
Now, I do like to tinker, so I tried other gadgets too. I gave the Moaan InkPalm Plus a shot because it was small enough to tuck in a pocket and cheap compared to the pricey BOOX Palma. But the slow refresh rate and the fact I couldn’t highlight passages meant it gathered more dust than it deserved. Most recently, I picked up the Kobo Clara Colour. I’m not thrilled that I only own the license to read my eBooks and not the book itself, but once Amazon locked down their platform so I can no longer download my eBooks and transfer them to whatever device I chose, I soured on them, so the Clara Colour seems the way to go. It’s smaller than my Paperwhite, which is nice, and I appreciate that Kobo lets me upload different file types. Still, the recessed screen and smaller book catalog have kept it from overtaking my Paperwhite.
So here’s where I stand: Paperwhite on top, Kobo Clara a close second, InkPalm just hanging around for quick toss-in-the-bag moments. If Apple ever decides to make an e-ink reader, I’d be first in line, though I bet it’d cost a small fortune. Maybe I should get a BOOX Palma after all?
What about you? What’s your go-to eBook device, and what makes it your favorite?
I woke up from a dream with the “Hokey Pokey” rattling in my head. Huh.
Finally, finally, FINALLY watched The Wicker Man. Utterly delightful. I didn’t expect it to be a horror movie and a musical!
I’ve only had my Kobo Clara Colour for a day, but I like it. It’s smaller than my Kindle Paperwhite, but that’s good. It’s easier to put in my back pocket or sling bag. On the downside, I’m unable to export my highlights. I’m hoping to find a solution that doesn’t involve using Readwise.
I’ve never seen a decent adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, but this one is pretty good. And with Nicholas Cage, no less. Guys in the middle of his horror renaissance.
I would sure appreciate it of someone would help me pin a post to the top of one of my Micro.Blogs.
I am this close 🤌 to purchasing a Kobo Clara. Anything I should know
or thoughts on the Clara Colour before I tap the purchase button? Thanks!
Someone (not me) needs to adapt this ST:NG LECARS layout for Micro.Blog
Palms and steel.
Vertical City, Falling Sky
Angles.
I began reading Alan Moore’s Jerusalem this time last year. The book clocks in at a hefty 1,266 pages, and while it’s never been a slog, it has been a slow-going read until I found myself in the current chapter, which is all in Finnegan’s WakeJoyce-speak. My reading has dropped to a crawl, and the experience alternates between confounding and delightful, sometimes both simultaneously. Consequently, I’m having trouble following the chapter’s plot because my brain is working overtime to parse what I’m reading. And as an unanticipated side effect, my brain is still in Joyce mode when I read standard prose, making reading all the more magical.
This episode was steeped in conspiracy theories and seemed more like something out of The X-Files. It was clear by the third of the way through that this episode wouldn’t have a conclusion; instead, it was more about advancing the season’s story arc, making it an unsatisfying watch. On the other hand, it featured Clarence Williams III of The Mod Squad fame, which was pretty cool.
The late 90s were when television programming fully adopted serial storytelling. Well, that’s not entirely true. Soap operas had been on air for the last few decades, but this was the first time it was applied to genre fiction on prime time, and I was ready for it. That said, this episode was a clunker, and I don’t think I would continue watching the series. On the plus side, Mark Rolston makes an appearance as a scumbag merc who is hard of hearing, which was a nice twist.
Last night I watch Bram Stoker’s Dracula on the big screen, sharp as a coffin nail. Hadn’t seen it like that since ’92, back in Boston, when I hit the theater with the crew from Slaughter Shack. The frontman was tangled up with Sadie Frost—engaged, dating, whatever. I’ve seen the damn thing a half dozen times since, maybe more. Crowd was younger than I figured—bright-eyed, full of blood, and barely old enough to know what they were watching. A few phones flickered like rats in the walls, but they stayed quiet. Smart. Dracula don’t like distractions. And neither do I.
Slopping through the slough of a chapter now, ink-thick and babble-tongued in Alan Moore’s mad Jerusalem, I am. yes, dragfoot and fogbrained, sentence winding round itself like a drunken priest’s sermon, and poor old Jimmy J. himself, God rest his lexical gymnastics, would tilt his noble head and mutter what in the bally blue blazes is this babelish blather, aye, scratching at scalp in baffled awe.
