BY JOHN JENSEN
I like to relax with a book at bedtime but usually after half-an-hour I start dozing. My partner finds this very funny: ’Page one, chapter one, paragraph one, ZZZZZ’ she says, smirking. I decided to give audio books a go but after fifteen minutes I’m dozing again. If I don’t like the choice of actor doing the reading my irritation with him or her wakes me up and sends me back to printed books so that I can be sure of getting back to doze mode. I have an e-reader but there comes a time when you don’t always want to be staring at a screen: bed is usually sacrosanct in that respect. Novels? I prefer histories or biographies, I’ve got dozens – Leonardo, Dr Johnson, Hogarth, Sartre, books on literature, science and politics which I’m determined to finish. They’re all bookmarked so I can pick any one of them up to find where I left off even though some of them are fifteen years old. I might even have to start reading them all over again. Or buy new copies if they’re still in print. Old paperbacks with yellowed paper and so called ‘perfect’ binding tend to fall to bits, strewing pages all over the bedroom floor. Maybe I’ll Kindle some of them after all. One day.
