All Good Books

I am reading my very first e-book, and I have to say I am l-o-v-i-n-g it.  Maybe that's because I'm enjoying the book as opposed to the fact that I can read it on my iPad - inside, outside, leaning against the counter tiles as I cook dinner, leaning against a bowl as I eat lunch, in 'night-mode' when I read it after dark.... but man, I'm a bit obsessed by it.

It's Insurgent I'm reading, well, almost finished, which is the second book of the Divergent series (and no I'm not going to watch the film and spoil my idea of the characters, and yes the first book I was equally obsessed about reading and it was in paperback form).  It's perhaps a bit teenagerish for me - or YA I've learned is the code - but whatever.  And the reason I think I'm loving the fact that it's an iBook so much, is the fact that it's an iBook.

Two nights ago I was gonna use Valentines as an excuse to ask the Don to buy me this second book (he bought me the first one for Christmas - there is not much choice of books in AD) when it suddenly dawned on me, or maybe the Don suggested it, I can't remember, that I could download it straight away.  Like right now.  At just the touch of a button.

I know, I'm just so slow at this whole instant book/music/movie thing.... What can I say, it's still all new to me...

An incredibly frustrating two hours later I realised that downloading the Kindle App here, having an iPhone and an iPad registered somewhere between the UK and here, the Don's smart phone already set up with a US Kindle account, and choosing the 'Family Sharing' option between the Don's Amazon account in the US and mine in the UK, was not allowing me to buy what I wanted.  I have never been so hacked off with technology not working before, and I have never been so determined to find an answer.  Which I didn't, until I saw/remembered/realised I could just buy it from the Apple iBook store instead and ignore Kindle and Amazon completely.  And tada! after one-click ordering, Insurgent was mine.

Scary thing actually, one-click ordering.

Anyway, two days later and I'm about to download Allegiant, the last in the series.  And I know, I know I'm sure there are advantages of waiting to buy the book from the shop and my arguments before about lending it out to friends still hold I think, but quite frankly, it's better for me and mine that I get over this trilogy as fast as possible so life can go back to how we know it.  And realistically I'm never gonna lend these books to anyone!  But reading it on the iPad is pretty cool, and I was never convinced about the Kindle, I have to say...  I don't know what options the Kindle gives you, and I still don't like the scrolling or single page per screen ones, but I DO like how you can hold the iPad sideways, like a book, with two pages open, and you can quite literally 'turn' the page to move on to the next one.  And it's about the size of a small paperback too, so not really that different, except I can use my knife and fork when reading while eating because I don't have to hold the book open ;)  So I have to admit I'm a convert.  I mean I'll still buy paperback books when I see them; I'll still browse a book store (if I can find one here) to decide what I want to read; I will still get recommendations and borrow books from friends and if I ever come across a library I will most definitely use it, but once a series has got its nails in to me, I will more than happily end the series with iBooks.

Anyway, time to go download Allegiant.  And if anyone has got a solution to my UK Amazon account only recognising the Don's US Kindle account and therefore not letting me buy anything except for on the US website, which then tells us that we're not in the US and therefore can not buy anything, please let me know!  And no, VPNs aren't working.

Incidentally, did you know that the Don has only ever lived in three countries: the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.  The United Mexican States (indeed, that is the official title of Mexico) I don't think will ever be an option for him, sadly.  Still, pretty cool.