Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "kindle-twitter"

I got one of the basic Kindles for this Christmas, and dozens of reads later, I'm happy to report that it's been pretty much a gas for me. One feature that delights me is the ability to make the letters to the gnat-sized print size LARGER for reading. My eyes appreciate that a lot. Recently, I read THE RED SCARF, Gil Brewer's noir classic, from the good folks at New Pulp Press. I plowed through RED SCARF in two evenings. A sheer pleasure, I can tell you.

Of late, my reading for fun has tapered off. I'm not sure why that is. I think writing my own novels has overloaded my circuits, and I just want to chill out in the evening without looking at more printed text. The Nats (D.C.'s baseball team) are playing again, so they provide a nice diverson.

The Kindle's weight is light in my hands. It's surprising how heavy even a 250-page book gets while you're holding it to read. After a while, I also learned to read from a Kindle as fast as I can a paper book. So, the Kindle has spoiled me, although I'll never leave paper books for good, I'm certain.

Happy reading to you and yours!

Memorial Day marks the start of summer in the U.S. So, by June 1st, I like to have my spiffy summer reading list put together. Not that I'll stick to it since I like to skip around on a whim, or whatever piques my interest at the time. Summertime is all about having fun in your leisure anyway. So, without further ado...

Nonfiction. I don't read as much as I'd like to since I write novels. The Carole King biography, A Natural Woman: A Memoir, out this spring looks like a winner. Her music is mellow and upbeat. Earlier, I read Just Kids by Patti Smith, another musician, and liked it. Since I'm a baseball fan, I'll check around for some biographies of star ball players. Or perhaps I'll reread Jim Bouton's classic Ball Four.

Fiction. David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s published this year by Library of America bundles five of his novels. STREET OF NO RETURN I just finished is quite good if vintage noir is your cup of tea. Since my own mob book SKIN IN THE GAME will be out later this year, I'll read Ed Falco's The Family Corleone. John D. MacDonald attracts me for summer reading. Anything pre-Travis McGee is on my radar. The same deal goes for Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series.

Kindle. I've got a bunch of ebooks on my basic Kindle reader. I heard a statistic that only 10% of books on readers' Kindles actually ever get read. Anyway, I hope to do a little better than that. I used to read my Kindle before bedtime, but since I start my writing at 4 A.M., I've had to cut back on my Kindle reading.

So, there's a sampling of my book list. Happy reading to your own summer reading!