Amazon and I

I love books.  I keep books... ok, I hoard books.  Well, at least, I did.

In our old house there were books on bookshelves everywhere... the spare room was a library with a bed in it.  The cottage, however, has not a single bookshelf.  My cookbook collection is sacrosanct, they were never up for discussion.  As for the rest, after a great deal of sorting (weeping and wailing) and tactical giving away, I have my core collection: stored (the "must haves") in one of the pair of Chinese Wedding Baskets that doubles up as a coffee table, boxes in the attic and, as I discovered the other day (a secret stash of vegetable growing and poultry care guides) in the second drawer down of the sideboard!

Along with my reduced collection came the demise of my love affair with Amazon.  When I had the space, an "it's a quiet afternoon" trawl was common and I was one of those folks who had wish lists for my wish lists.  Since we moved here, I hadn't been on Amazon for months, over a year, until I bought the 10yr old's Kindle for Christmas.  And suddenly, we're back!  We have discovered that the 10yr old eats Kindle books for breakfast: the initial four books were read by the the day after Boxing Day and she has used up every gift voucher given to her since (thank goodness we thought to ask for gift vouchers!)  And, if the book she wants is not available for the Kindle, she is now discovering for herself that special feel of a good, well-loved, second hand book.  I, meanwhile, in the pursuit of the perfect Elizabethan Costume, am in "legitimate" need of some research material (oh, I can make it sound so perfectly logical to myself!) and, in all the "One Click" Kindle excitement have found myself rather caught up and merrily buying away.  Every day this week a little (ok, some not so little) amazon.co.uk package has arrived... it's like Christmas all over again :o)

And in case you're wondering where I might my new purchases... remember the post-Christmas clear out of the tape and CD collection?  It's amazing how much space they took up; I can probably get a good three dozen books in that chest instead!