Monday, March 31, 2014

One Click by Richard L. Brandt

Amazon was always fairly expensive in Singapore (shipping and all that). But, when I moved to Japan, it became a life-saver when I was looking for English books. Or you know, just wanted to buy anything from Amazon Japan (Prime for students, celebrate!) Ironically, I didn't get this book from Amazon, I chanced upon it in a BookOff store.

One Click is basically a short history of Amazon.com, from it's early beginnings (actually, even before it started, since it does talk about the jobs Jeff Bezos had before he started Amazon), to their crash, and a short discussion on the impact of Amazon.com on the book industry. This is a revised version, so an afterward about the Kindle Fire was added.

What this book showed me that Amazon.com, which I've always taken for granted, is no ordinary company. The reason why it's so successful is because it has a founder who is driven and timed the launch of the website very well. One other thing that I learnt was that the decision to sell books was a largely practical one.

This is mostly a history of Amazon.com, and the short chapter asking "Is Amazon Killing the Bookstore"? is to me, not comprehensive enough. It's really more of an introduction to the debate than anything. But, this isn't the focus of the book, and I'm sure that there are other books that talk about this more in-depth (perhaps I'll look it up on Amazon.com).

This short (207 page) book is a quick introduction into Amazon.com. If you're interested in learning more about the company, this may be a good introduction book. There are about 10 pages of notes in the back, so you can find different sources for further reading.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Revenge of the Akuma Clan by Benjamin Martin

When I finished Samurai Awakening, the first book in this series, my reaction was basically "I love it!". Now, for Revenge of the Akuma Clan, my reaction is "I LOVE IT AND I NEED THE SEQUEL NOW!"

But before I start, I need to thank Benjamin for the review copy that he sent. And it's autographed so this is one book I'm never getting rid off :D

Revenge of the Akuma Clan follows David as he continues on his path to be a Jitsugen Samurai, a samurai who protects Japan. But Chul Soon, the antagonist in Samurai Awakening is planning his revenge on David. David prepares for the next attack, but will he be strong enough? -resistingtheurgetospoilthebook-

AHEM. To continue, this book continues the strong characterisation in the first book and even introduces a few new characters (or rather, more of David's classmates find out his secret). Plus, existing characters like Takumi, Natsuki and Rie continue to develop and form new relationships. And of course, there is Kou and Reimi, the two kami inhabiting David and Takumi respectively. That's a large cast of characters. And yet those are just the kids. There are more adults, and I even learned something new about Yukiko, David's host mother.

The pacing of this book starts of normal at first (an ookami incident, a bullying incident), but towards the end of the book, it starts to pick up and rushes at you like a shinkansen. It's definitely the more exciting part, with one event leading to another.

What I liked about this book, apart from the plot and the characters, was how David's personal (Jitsugen Samurai) life and school life started to get more and more intertwined. It felt like the most natural route, since there is no way that so many supernatural events/fights can happen without anyone noticing.

The other thing that I liked was the school trip to Kyushu. It is the island where I'm living on after all. In addition, I've been to most of the places that David and his class goes to. I do wish there was more detail, but I didn't see any mistakes. And since a lot of books set in Japan tend to focus on Tokyo (or Osaka), it was refreshing to see Fukuoka and the rest of Kyushu appear.

If you liked Samurai Awakening, you have to get the sequel. If you're a fan of Japan/fiction set in Japan but haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? Go and get these two books now!

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

So, I finally got down to reading Les Miserables. It's an absolute monster of a book, on par with War and Peace, although I finished War and Peace much faster.

Before I even watched the movie, all I knew of Les Miserables was that there was a priest who helped a convict that stole from him. That's in the first section of the book and made me wonder how many people read further. Well, it's a really thick book and it tends to ramble so I do understand if people don't finish it.

Les Miserables is basically the story of Jean Valjean (fleeing from the police, represented by Javert). All else is background. Well, along the way there's something about a revolution too. But for a book this thick, it has devoted so much effort to the character of Jean Valjean that all other characters seem flat in comparison.

My least favourite character has got to be Cossette, followed by Marius. Cossette, for someone who has gone through hardship and spent time in a convent, is surprisingly airheaded. As soon as she realises she's pretty, she completely changes. And her sole purpose for living is Marius. Nothing else. She can even gradually forget about Jean Valjean, the man who was like a father. Marius as a character had slightly more depth (he also had more of a storyline), but his insta-love and obsession with Cossette was tiring. Actually, it's probably because I'm not a fan of insta-love that made me not a fan of their relationship. It's got to be unhealthy, the way the two of them are. I mean, Marius only joins the revolt because he thinks his relationship with Cossette is doomed.

So, is it worth reading it? Yes, definitely yes. Victor Hugo does write well and for me, the story of Jean Valjean was so well-done that it made the book for me. And the book does have some pretty deep themes, like redemption, grace and love.

But what about the digressions, you ask. Well, it's not as bad as you think. The most obvious one would be about the sewers and I found that fairly interesting. And the chapters are divided in such a way that if you peek at the start of each chapter, you can figure out how many chapters you need to skip (if you want to skip the digressions). That would probably cut down on the time needed to finish this book too.

Bottom line: It's a bit hard to get through (all those digressions!) but it's a rewarding read.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

English for Scammers by Dorothy Zemach and Chuck Sandy

If you've ever taken a look in your spam inbox, you would have seen many many claims that promise to make you rich. And if you actually open one, well, you'll regret it because the grammar (and sometimes the font) will give you a headache. While I never ever want to give my personal details to these scammers, I am quite often tempted to reply with an email correcting their grammar and writing style.

Thankfully, English for Scammers does that, which means I can happily ignore all the spam mails, content to know that if they wanted to, they could write nicely. This book teaches you the basics of writing a business letter, from format to tone and even basic things like grammar and punctuation. Keep in mind though, for the grammar and punctuation part, it's not a comprehensive chapter, but is good enough as an introduction. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises, most of which require you to correct the English in a poorly-written scam email. Answers are included at the back of the book.

To me, this book was amusing and fairly educational. For one thing, I didn't know that esophageal cancer was so prevalent in the scammer world. Plus, I haven't had a writing class since secondary school, so it was a good refresher on how to write a professional email. Most of the book uses American English, but the book does give the British English equivalents, which I appreciated.

Difficulty level-wise, this book is probably suited for the beginner or for someone looking for a quite refresher on how to write a professional email. Using these terribly written emails was actually a good idea, because it gives you a very clear sense of what not to write, and by correcting them, you learn how to write a proper email.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

French Lessons by Peter Mayle

I never thought that French cuisine and Singaporean cuisine could have anything in common, but now that I've read this book I think I found one point: both cultures will eat anything. Frogs? Check (frog porridge is really good); snails? sorta-Check (we eat sea-snails, those do count right?). We even have fish head curry. Peter Mayle should totally come to Singapore and do a food tour.

French Lessons isn't about learning French (although considering how entertainingly Peter Mayle writes, he could write a French textbook and I will probably chuckle through it), it's about eating your way through France. It's not a comprehensive guide (in fact, he writes about missing a festival in the book).

In this book, he talks about French chicken, escargot, frogs, and he makes it all sound so good. My favourite festival was probably the slow marathon through the vineyards, because that seems like my kind of exercise. Slow. Another section I liked immensely would be when he and his wife checked into a detox center. It sounds so relaxing yet healthy (so it's win-win!).

Like A Year in Provence (link leads to my review), Peter Mayle writes entertainingly and fondly about France. The only difference is that this is focused on food and covers a wider area of France. He really does seem fond of the country and the way he makes you write made me want to visit.

And yet, he doesn't see France through entirely rose-tinted glasses (perhaps it's only slightly tinted, and only when it comes to food). He writes about a few of his French friends who are pompous and too-smug about their own culture. It's entertaining, but it's not exactly flattering. It's sections like these though, that make me believe what he says, because he seems to be telling the truth.

I believe the book that I haven't read yet is A Dog's Life (wait, have I read it? Or did I just read that one excerpt?) and after reading this, I really have to go and search for a copy.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Reading Style: A Life in Sentences by Jenny Davidson

I think all of us have experienced this before. Sometimes, when we're reading, we come across a passage that moves us, even though we don't know why. While there are many many passages, there's one quote that moved an entire cohort:

"I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane." (Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury)
It's probably because we read this book while we were sixteen, but it impacted us more than what a school book normally would. I think it taught us that it's ok, normal even, to be very different from the norm.

So it was with great excitement that I started reading Reading Style: A Life in Sentences. This book is about examining how style impacts writing and it's emotional impact on the reader. Through a wide range of authors, from Anthony Burgess to George Eliot, Austen and even Stephen King, the author explores writing style. What makes this book different from a normal literary textbook is that the author's reading life and the impact these books have had on her is a focus of this book.

What I liked about this book is that the author doesn't claim to be The Authority when it comes to literature. She says that "it would be absurd to construe my preferences as objective verdicts on the respective merits of those two [books]". I heartily concur with this.

However, I found this book a bit hard to understand. Sometimes I don't know what the author is saying or why she finds it beautiful, but the passage is beautiful it makes me want to cry because I want to know more. Also, it makes me feel stupid that I have no idea what's going on. Of course, this is probably because I haven't touched literature in two years and even when I was studying literature, I found things like "theme" and "character" easier to understand than "diction".

If you're a literature student (or have some knowledge of literature) wanting to go deeper into writing style, this is the book for you. If you're a casual reader, well, it's worth picking up this book, but don't expect to be able to breeze through it.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Now You See It by Cathy N. Davidson

I realised that I've been taking a lot of breaks this year, but my sisters are coming over for a week (starting from tomorrow), so I won't be blogging, I'll be spending time with them!

I got this book as part of the The History and Future of (Mostly) Higher Education MOOC at Coursera. But that's not the point I want to make. The point I want to make is that I didn't realise that the author, also the professor in charge of the MOOC, is also the author of 36 Views of Mount Fuji! I remember reading the book and I liked it(:

Now You See It is divided into four parts. The first is about cognitive dissonance. The second is about technology and education/children. The third is about technology and the workplace. The last is about how brains are flexible. Out of all four sections, the second part (about kids/education) was the most interesting to me and left the strongest impression. For example, do video games really cause violence? Or do they help kids learn? (Apparently, 'televisions cause violence' was a thing when televisions first started, so this blame game with technology does seem cyclical). Of course, this book is focused on learning and technology, such as the Duke iPod experiment, which makes sense, seeing as Ms Davidson is a teacher.

Since I know nothing about neuroscience, I can't say if the science in this book is accurate or not. But I do think that a lot of the ideas in this book are interesting. For example, her student-led class (and the controversy that later became when she proposed to delegate the grade-giving process) was definitely food for thought, although I can't imagine something like this happening in Japan in the near future. But for ACS(I)/IB/Singapore JC[maybe], yes, I can see something like this, for perhaps one class.

This is an interesting and fairly easy-to-read book. Since there are basically four sections, you may want to just focus on the section that interests you most, but if you have the time and inclination, you should definitely read it through.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

The Orchard of Hope by Amy Neftzger

"Hope is never gone. But it can be eaten alive, and that's exactly what was happening in the orchard."
Isn't this an awesome start to a book? When I read these two sentences, I immediately raised my hopes for this book. After all, why was hope being eaten in an orchard? And it's alive? So is it human, vegetable or mineral? So many questions.

The Orchard of Hope follows Kelsey, a girl who likes killing things and is apparently good at that; Roland, the grim reaper who takes on a different form to different people and Maggie, a 'girly girl' who likes to talk as they go on a quest to stop hope from being eaten by wolves. At the same time, their friend Nicholas is being trained by an eccentric sorcerer Moss, a snow leopard called Megan and a gargoyle who likes cookies.

What I liked about this book was the set-up of the story. It was interesting, and I could see that this book was part of a series (I really should hunt down the first book). Personally, I thought the solution to the "wolves stealing hope" part was rather anti-climatic and a bit rushed, but I did enjoy the descriptions of the various places and the characters.

One thing I noticed that I shouldn't have noticed was the message of the book. Very early into the book, it flat out tells you that one of the messages is learning to get along with people who are different from you. Ok, maybe it wasn't so blunt, but all that talk about important lessons to be learnt, how the Kelsey seemed to only get along with people like her, this felt way too obvious. Personally, I would have cut out all the scenes that make it obvious that the quest is also going to involve some personal growth since it's really a "telling" rather than "showing". This was strongest in the first few chapters, although it receded somewhat when the quest started.

To sum, this is a book with interesting characters and an interesting setting. I think the future conflicts with the main villain (the evil sorcerer) will be interesting to read. However, it suffers from the "telling not showing" syndrome, which was rather annoying at times.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Fanfiction Studies Reader edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse

There was a period of time in my primary and secondary school years where everyone I knew was reading and/or writing fanfiction. The normal categories were "Teen Titans" or "Prince of Tennis", basically animated shows, but there were students writing Enid Blyton fanfiction. I know because I was one of them, to be more accurate, I begged my friends to write me into the Enid Blyton fanfiction.

Unfortunately, Enid Blyton fanfiction does not feature in this book. Instead, the fanfiction (I mean, specific fandoms and fanfiction) that is analysed the most would be Star Trek. There's also a chapter on Sherlock Holmes. So when the author says "we have nevertheless chosen to restric our collection [of fan studies] to transformative written works of Western media texts", please note that it's even more specific then that - there's nothing 'recent' (recent meaning fandoms like Harry Potter, Lord of The Rings, and even, sigh, Twilight). Specific fandoms analysed are Sherlock Holmes (1 essay), Star Trek (4 essays) and Babylon5 (1 essay), with a total of 11 essays.

Personally, I feel like most of this is dated. Sure, the analysis is interesting, but references to things like "fanzines" make me think that this was the pre-internet/early internet era. A quick look at introduction shows that only three essays were written after the year 2000. Personally, I would have liked to see a few more recent papers, because I think that the fanfiction subculture has changed a lot in the last couple of years.

While this book is interesting, the tone is largely academic and a bit difficult to read. If you're interested in delving into fanfiction studies seriously (perhaps as a university paper), then this book may be relevant to you. But if you want something that explains fanfiction and/or the field of fan studies in general terms, this book may be a bit too complicated.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths by Michael Quinion

For the entire time I borrowed this book, I thought the title was "Posh", which was weird, but then again, it is one of the entries. And then I tried to search for the book on Goodreads....

Port Out, Starboard Home is a mini-encyclopedia about various English words and phrases (the fancy term for this is called etymology). It's arranged in alphabetical order, and there are cross-references for related words. In each entry, the author talks about the different folk etymologies there are and which is the true origin (if there's any).

I found this book to be really interesting. I haven't heard of most of these folk etymologies, so they were all new to me. I haven't really considered the origins of words before, and as I read, I was thinking, we should have a competition to see who can make up the most plausible story for a certain word (that we can draw at random) and see who can come closest to the truth. [Disclaimer: I was inspired by the book No More Naughty, where to learn the meaning of words, the children were asked to make up their own definitions first and vote for the most plausible sounding one.]

If you're wondering about the origins of some of your favourite words (or at least, some theories about the origins of the word), you should give this book a go. It's a light-hearted and readable book. And since it's educational, that's got to have some bonus points.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Othello by C.E. Wilson

This version of Othello is a re-telling set in a high school. Since Othello is one of the books that I didn't study (Confession time, I've only studied Merchant of Venice, King Lear and Julius Caesar. At least, these are the three that I feel fairly confident about), I can't really make any comments on whether this is a faithful re-interpretation. So, I'll just judge the book on its own merits and throw in a few "I wonder if Shakespeare did this too" thoughts now and then.

Orion (Othello) is dating Devony (Desmonda), the mayor's daughter. After six months of sneaking around, they're finally publicly a couple (Ok, so they were outed by 'friends', but same effect). Unfortunately for Devony, Archer (Iago) hates Orion for not making him Vice-President of the student council and so is plotting and manipulating everyone to get his revenge. Even more unfortunately, Archer succeeds and a lot of people die (that cannot be a spoiler, the entire plot of Othello is on Wikipedia after all).

Just now, I wrote "Unfortunately for Devony" and no, I did not leave out Orion by mistake. The character I felt the most sympathy for was Devony and she basically only has a victim role. She never does anything to anyone and she's just collateral damage.

There is where, I feel, the book falls short. The characters are all very one-sided. Now, from what I can see, Shakespeare is supposed to have portrayed Othello very progressively for this day, but unfortunately, like the portrayal of Sherlock, these are characters that cannot triumph. The author was probably working with limitations like these (not to mention plot constraints) so we have: Archer - Evil genius who can manipulate almost anyone and yet somehow didn't win the election; Orion - way too gullible for his own good and with a terrible temper and too obsessive about Devony; Devony- Basically good; and so on.

I think the most wasted part is the portrayal of Orion. Like I said, Shakespeare is supposed to have been progressive, but Orion here is just a one-sided figure. He's almost unlikable. As unlikable as Archer even. He does not listen to reason or anyone except Devony. And since he goes from all-round good guy to crazy murderer in what feels like overnight (but is supposed to be just a few short weeks), the transition felt a bit unnatural. Shakespeare had his audience, who probably believed all that about Othello from the start, but I have problems believing that Orion is that base.

Where this book does shine, however, is in its readability. The book is easy to read and hard to put down. Even though the plot was already decided in advance, if the prose was clunky, I would still have had a hard time reading it.

To end, I'll just note that Othello was originally a play. That alone means it's visual and auditory, while a book is expected to be deeper, to reveal more (hard to do unless characters constantly break into monologue, and even that can feel unconvincing). So I suppose the limitations of the play has somehow affected the book itself. I did find it an interesting read, and more importantly, it piqued my interest in the original play.

Disclaimer: I got this book as part of Oops! I Read a Book Again blog tours in exchange for a free and honest review.


Thursday, March 6, 2014

White Hart by Sarah Dalton

Nooooo, I need the next book now!

That was basically my reaction to the ending of White Hart.

Wait, let me go back to the beginning. In White Hart, Mae is the only one in her generation to be craft-born. And guess what? The lucky craft-born gets to marry the heir to the throne. But Mae doesn't want to marry the Prince (though she has never met him) and so, she's relieved when Ellen, a girl from her village, manages to trick everyone into thinking that she was craft-born.

But unfortunately, through a really unfortunate incident, her father is killed and Ellen kidnapped. And so, Mae goes into the enchanted Waerg Wood with her white stag Anta (how cool is that?) and the Casimir, the prince.

My favourite character was definitely Mae. She grows a lot in the novel, and I could see her change from a hot-headed and rather vicious young lady (if you read how she treated Sasha at first you'll understand) to a well, she's still hot-headed, but she's also rather self-sacrificial and really nice. The only thing I didn't understand about her was why she fell in love with Casimir. I mean, one moment their sniping and each other and the next, she likes him? Personally, I hope that she finds someone way better in the next book.

Which brings me to the ending. At the ending I was all... WHY IS MAE SO NICE?!?! and I NEED THE NEXT BOOK!

What this novel has going for it is that it's addictive and it has a great protagonist. It's weaknesses are the cliched "I like him but he doesn't like me" and a few personality changes in characters that don't make sense. For example. Sasha and Ellen's sudden friendship with Mae. But overall, I loved this book.

Ok, so now I'm conflicted. I don't know whether I should recommend you buy the book now (it just came out yesterday after all) and have you suffer the agony of the cliff hanger, or whether I should tell you to wait for the next book.

Wait... Good cliffhanger = higher chance of fanfiction. Ok, everyone go buy it, read it and write some fanfiction!

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Fangirling over Revenge of the Akuma Clan

As you know, I hardly ever get actual paper review copies. So whenever I get one, I have this moment of joy. And well, I got a copy today, but you have to at least double the joy. Make it a fangirl moment.

You see, the book I got was Revenge of the Akuma Clan, the sequel to Samurai Awakening by Benjamin Martin <- link leads to review. I loved it, so I can't wait to read the sequel.

And it comes with a matching bookmark. 
Now I have a dilemma, happy dilemma it may be. I'm about 1/7 my way through Les Miserables, which has a due date but this book is calling me. I'm going to have to figure out what to do with these two books.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Teaser Tuesday - Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

I did say that I didn't intend to do so many Teaser Tuesdays this year, but I'm reading Les Miserables now and had to make an exception. This huge brick of a novel (and I mean that in a complimentary way, I love reading!) has been on my to-read list for a while, but I didn't think I could finish an ebook. So I waited until I could get my hands on a paperback.

So, here's the teaser:

Loving in ignorance, she loved with all the more passion. She did not know whether it was good or evil, beneficent or dangerous, necessary or accidental, eternal or transitory, permitted or prohibited: she loved. (Page 898)
Love this teaser! And I really did find it randomly, not by flipping page after page until I found one I like.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of ShouldBeReading. To participate, just share a two-sentence teaser of a book you're currently reading alone with the title and author.

What is your teaser?

Monday, March 3, 2014

Smart Girl's Guide to God, Guys and the Galaxy by Susie Shellenberger and Kristin Weber

As seen from the title, this book is for Christian girls who are in their tween-teen years. I'm guessing on the age thing, but judging from the content, I shouldn't be too wrong. If you're wondering why I, having left my teen years behind, requested this book, it's because I'm very partial to books that use the word "guide". And because it kind of reminds me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Life, the Universe and Everything (the titles I mean). I believe the version for guys is called "Guys guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket".

This book is basically 101 short chapters, each about one piece of advice ranging from things like "Smell good" and "Wear crazy socks" to "If everyone jumps off a bridge, find out why they're jumping" and "Help keep "creepsters" away by disabling all location information on your social media" to "Go to God first with your problems" and "Study the Bible." Basically, it's a mix of sensible advice, Godly advice and just plain wacky ideas. Each chapter goes like this: advice -> Scripture verses -> questions to consider -> last note from the author of the chapter.

Personally, I liked this guide. The mix of advice was interesting and I enjoyed reading it. I really liked some of the chapters, like having guy friends and not being crazy for a boyfriend and (my favourite piece of advice) thinking of why everyone is jumping off the bridge. The "If everyone jumps off a bridge, find out why they're jumping" piece of advice is something that everyone should know (if they don't). It's basically encouraging you to look at the reason for a phenomenom before blindly following it or rejecting it outright.

The only one thing that's not even a proper criticism. There's a section of dressing modestly (which I agree with) and it ends with "If you're not sure something is appropriate, ask your parents, sister or trusted friend (not a guy friend)." Perhaps I just happen to have really protective guy friends, but they're normally more conservative than me. I have had separate conversations about a skirt, with the consensus from the girls as "it's ok what" and the guys going "too short, don't wear." For me, that last part would just read "trusted friend."

All in all, this is an interesting book that you can consider giving to teenage girl you know.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Musings: Why Ebooks are Not Real Books to Me (Yet)

Don't let the title fool you into thinking I'm anti-ebook; I think ebooks have a lot of good. They allow poor people to publish books (like An Excuse For Company), giving indie authors an actual method to get their stories out (Hi! Thanks for letting me read your stories! They truly are great!). And to reviewers living out of America and Canada, they're the easiest ways that a publisher can use to get an ARC into our hands. But despite all these advantages (and trust me, I love them), I'm not ready to treat ebooks as real books. I tend to keep them separate in my mind.

For one thing, sometimes I don't feel like I own my ebook. True, I'm not using the Kindle, where Amazon has wiped out customer accounts. But I do read DRM locked galleys. And while I'm a plenty fast reader, I can imagine how people who read slowly can't finish the galley before it's expired (and by then, it might be archived!).

Which leads to my next point: You can't share an ebook. Sure, there are gift-ing methods, but how do I lend an ebook to my friend? Right now, I think the only way I could pass a copy on would be to copy it, but that's piracy. But with a printed book, I could just lend that copy to my friend and get it back when it's read. No copying needed.

And this point is quite unrelated, but I've never had a reading slump when it comes to physical books. E-books yeah, but when I think I'm sick of reading, all I need to do is to look for an actually book that doesn't come with distractions like Plants vs Zombies 2 and start reading. I normally find myself wondering why I ever got tired of reading in a few minutes.

So that would be my really short musing on ebooks. It's probably not the last time I'll be thinking about ebooks so look out for a part 2 sometime in the future!