STORYTELLING SUNDAY

Yet again I'm late with my story for SIAN'S STORYTELLING SUNDAY....a monthly meme  hosted by my friend SIAN for a group of Bloggers (and YOU, if you feel so inclined), to share a story...long, short, happy or sad: Sian encourages them all!

This year we have been invited to share the stories of those things we find to be most precious to us, and for this month I haven't chosen something which I have had for years ...instead it's something that's fairly new in my life, but which has become a very big part of it:

.....my IPAD....and NOT just because I need it to play 'Candy Crush Saga'!

I use it for blog-reading, emails, reminders, lists, downloading music...but one of the most important things I use it for is keeping in touch with my girl.....I love that I can Facetime her and actually see her (you can tell a lot by my daughter's facial expressions- I wonder who she takes that from?!) and it works far better than Skype ever did for me.

Short and sweet this month, but if you want to read more stories why not pop over HERE to see what other people have chosen as their 'precious' this month.

Have a lovely weekend, whatever you're doing!

Thanks for dropping by!
take care of you
Alison xx

TO READ, OR NOT TO READ.......

 .....that IS the question...or at least it's something I've been pondering over the last few days. I had a conversation with a couple of friends about it, then I read SUSANNE'S POST  yesterday...so I did some more thinking and decided to put my thoughts out there for you all.

I have always been a voracious reader...since I was old enough to read Enid Blyton by myself! I progressed through stories about imps and fairies and circuses (at one point I desperately wanted to run away and join a circus!) to The Secret Seven and The Famous Five and onwards to Mallory Towers and St Claire's. These 'Boarding School' books led me onto 'The Chalet School' series, by Elinor M Brent Dyer.

There then seemed to be a huge leap into 'grown up " books...starting with Catherine Cookson, which took me down the historical route for many years....O'levels introduced me to John Steinbeck (who didn't love 'Of Mice and Men'?), and that was me on the road to American literature.

My genres of choice these days, are Mystery/Thrillers (roots in Enid Blyton?!) and Family Sagas/Romances...with a bit of ChickLit thrown in sometimes. I particularly enjoy series' of books (Enid again?!) and get quite upset when an author decides the series is finished!

Not only have my tastes in reading changed over the years (I couldn't read another Catherine Cookson if you PAID me!..and I can't bear anything earlier than the First World War, historically) but, with the advent of E-readers, HOW I enjoy books has changed.

For READING, it still has to be an actual, made-from-paper book. I have tried reading on my Kindle or Ipad, but it's just not the same; one of the things I dislike about it is the fact that you can't flick back and forth (when you forget who someone is..or whose brother or sister they are!). I also confess to being one of those people who likes to read the last page, especially in romantic fiction...I just HAVE to know if there's a happy ending. And then sometimes I have to do a bit more checking if the ending isn't as I thought, or can't work out how it came about...it's difficult to do that with an E-reader!

The book I finished in bed last night...definately had to read the end of this one!

I do however use my Kindle and Ipad to LISTEN to books...but have discovered for the afore-mentioned reasons, that I can only listen to Mystery books or thrillers...for some reason I don't have the same need to know how the story ends...weird or what? 

The one I finished this afternoon on my Ipad...I have the latest one in the series downloaded ready for listening to next!

It used to be that I could never have two books on the go at once, but now I can easily listen to something whilst lying in the sun or ironing and when I go to bed at night read something entirely different.

Do you enjoy reading?....Has the way you enjoy books changed?...hope you find some time for a little reading this week!

Thanks for dropping by! 
Take care of you
Alison xx

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