We've seen the music industry attempt the occasional "pay what you feel" initiative, where a song or an album is released to the public, and they get to choose how much to pay for the item - giving what they think it's worth. These haven't revolutionised the industry, but it does cause a stir and can be a good marketing technique to draw attention to yourselves. Now, the concept has …

[I'm one of the Kindle's biggest fans, and will buy as much as I can in digital form. But there are a few books I can't get rid of. This is the first in an infrequent and limited series featuring those physical books that mean enough to earn their place in the box that moves house with us.] I loved The Faraway Tree series as a kid. The idea of …

When I was posting Trailer Tuesday a while back, the Paddington poster made me want to read the books, so I had a peek on the Kindle store and found many of them (perhaps all?) available for the device. That got me thinking, what other fab books of my youth are also available for the Kindle? The Worst Witch was one of my favourites as a kid, probably because I …

To tie in with the Olympics, the Kindle store held a Reading Marathon sale. Oh, how I love a Kindle sale. I delved right in, clicking my way through book after book, pondering some new purchases. I spent more than I would have liked, but equally, came out with plenty of books for my money, so I can't complain. It wasn't until I synced them with my actual Kindle that …

A few days ago, Amazon announced two brand new stores for Kindle, bringing the total up to six individual destinations now. The two new countries added are Italy and Spain, via Amazon.it and Amazon.es. All three of my books are currently available in both, with any searches bringing up the results with Euro currency. Christine Blachford on the Italian store Christine Blachford on the Spanish store The two news stores …

As their Book of the Week recently, the iBookstore featured the new Michael Crichton novel called Micro. Except, it's not really a fully baked Crichton book. I'm a massive Michael fan, Timeline is one of my favourite books of all time. Some of his later works turned out to be a bit hard work, but Jurassic Park, Congo and Sphere are all great pieces. I was very sad when he …

When Amazon announced their new line of products - ereaders and tablets all - we decided it was about time we became a Kindle-owning household. I've never really been fussed about the Kindle really, settling for the gazillion apps I have spread around the office. There's never a time I'm very far from a book these days. Still, the new range of products made them more enticing, and as a …

Amazon have launched a French Kindle store to go alongside their US, UK and German destinations. The new store allows Kindle users in France to purchase books from a dedicated .fr domain, rather than being redirected to their nearest store and purchasing in differing currencies. Along with the store, Amazon also launched a French-language Kindle, so that users can buy and read books in either language. You can find my …

In the wee hours of the morning, I launched my latest book - Between the Lines. The book is the first in the new Formula Primo series - which you may know better as Life in the Fast Lane. It began as a simple ten part story, in which the readers could vote in which direction the next chapter would go. Now it has been expanded and improved to become …

When I formed my Life List reading goal, I decided the best thing to do was pick a list of books that would introduce me to new titles and authors. There are lots of lists scattered around the internet, but I selected one and got on with it. I set up a dedicated page to house the list, and link to the reviews of the books I read as I …

Since writing my two-part F1 book and releasing it on Amazon as a Kindle ebook, many people have noted with disappointment that they don’t own a Kindle device. Yet one of Amazon’s best kept secrets is the many, many Kindle apps they have created offering the ability to read their ebook content on a variety of different devices. Even if you don’t possess a Kindle, you should still be able …

Fresh from my adventures with Shelfari, I've also signed up to Goodreads. I investigated them both and went for Shelfari simply because the website appealed to me more, but having had quite a lot of fun with one reading site, I thought why not double it? Goodreads does very much the same, although there are some things it does not do as well, and some things it offers that are …

When JK Rowling announced Pottermore, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The Harry Potter books are some of the few physical novels that I still own, and I haven't wanted to dispose of them until I had an ebook copy to replace it with. It's been driving me crazy, as I only own six of the seven books, and that gap on the shelf is hard to live with. …

The second book of the 365 F1 Stories series was published over the weekend, and you can find more about it on the books page. It's been quite the process getting these two books into being, and it's not over yet. There are more things to do with those two, and more ideas in my head for further exploration. I hope to blog more about the process when I am …

A conversation on Sidepodcast briefly touched upon the subject of the best-selling business book Who Moved My Cheese? I remember reading it a while ago and being fascinated by the subject matter but having it suddenly brought to my attention, I thought reading it again would be a good idea. Luckily, Mr C owns a physical copy of this book, and you know why I say luckily? Because the thing …

I've made lots and lots of New Year's Resolutions before, both on the blog and in my head, and very few of them have worked out. This year, I changed the concept around completely and debuted the Life List - a long-term set of goals and things to aim at. Some are crazy, some are impossible, some are easy and most will take time. I figured a quick review for …

Before today, I had brought my iPad to work with me three times, ready to read some books over lunch. I've been reading the Kindle App on my phone which is great, but it suddenly occurred to me that to other people, it probably looked as though I was staring at my phone for an hour every day. I was torn between being the type of person who stares at …

I got to have a peek at the brand new Kindle today, and although I was expecting to want to steal it from my brother - who is the proud owner of the device - it actually turned out that I wasn't that keen on it. I love the device from a distance, I love people that have a Kindle, and I encourage people to get one if they want …

After a rather long week, Mr C and I decided to retire from our desks early last night and take to our respective books for reading. It was fun. Mr C is currently enjoying Joe Saward's latest book - The Man Who Caught Crippen. At the moment, it is only available in paperback, and it's the first physical book we've ordered from Amazon in a long time (and it may …

I've been a big supporter of the ebooks movement, but for some reason I haven't actually been jumping on the wagon with the band until just recently. To start with, I had absolutely no time for reading, I wasn't buying books, so although I flew the flag for digital novels, I wasn't consuming them myself. Then I began to find time to read again, and now, I'm pretty much as …

With the invention of the iPad pretty much scrapping any chance of me getting a Kindle any time soon, I've been starting to look at the concept of reading books on the iPod Touch. My first experience came only from seeing the words Doctor Who on an app in a top ten list somewhere. The Enhanced Editions, er, edition of Code of the Krillitanes by Justin Richards. It's one of …

Eight Songs The song choices are by far the hardest part. My mother left her choices on the previous post, and told me that it took her the best part of an hour to narrow it down to eight. I'm not sure how long I've spent thinking about this as I chose them over a period of several days, by writing one, then going away to ponder and picking it …

I watched the BBC dramatisation of Enid Blyton's life yesterday, cleverly titled "Enid." I thought it was a really good piece, and Helena Bonham Carter was fabulous - I adore the subtle aging process that I have only noticed now, watching back the trailer. I've seen and heard some comments from people concerned that the documentary has shattered their illusions of the books they read as a child. I can't …

Amazon have finally got around to offering up the Kindle to parts of the world outside the US, although at the moment it seems to still be a US Kindle. The UK site redirects to Amazon.com for purchasing, and you buy the device and subsequent books in dollars. It also ships with a US charger, which would need a converter. It seems as though this is a rush decision to …

Not only have I just uncovered a new site covering the world of eBooks, but it is a site that is asking for contributions. Yay! Starting from the beginning, I read the Random Acts of Reality blog which is written by an ambulance technician (I'm not sure they're still called that, sincere apologies), and is a really fascinating read. The author, Tom Reynolds, also compiled a book on the same …

An interesting thought about the Kindle that hadn't occurred to me. I wonder how many people have not only fallen for the sheer alleged convenience of Kindle, but because it has filled their minds with works they would not otherwise have touched. Could Kindle be a way to re-educate the world? Could it help us to bypass those scheming, artsy book designers and finally be true to our own genuine …

I was actually going to record this as a kind of video blog, but am missing a rather crucial USB cable that without it means I have to crawl around under desks and dismantle Mr C's rather tidy cabling. I don't think he'd thank me for that, but I feel the stories are worth sharing before they get too old, so I'll post the transcript instead. This is also my …

LibriVox is an organisation with a simple goal - to make all public domain works accessible in audiobook form. I've been involved for a long while now, part of an enormous group of volunteers who record chapters, poems and entire books to attempt to reach this goal. My latest solo book has been catalogued: Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School. It's one of those books that is probably aimed …

Sony has announced two new ebook Readers - the Pocket and the Touch. Specs, more pictures, and a brief review available on CNET. At least this one is available in the UK. Are you listening Amazon?

I was mega happy this afternoon after watching Tim Henman win his match - it had everything you could ever want, a Brit, some diving and some swearing, and a sulky Delta Goodrem, she's famous you know! There was also a little bit of tennis going on as well... Now, I will talk to you about iTunes. I want to recommend it to each and every one of you. I …

The end of Friends - I'm stocked up with Doritos and tissues, just in case. I was driving home and it's been a mega stressful day, there was nothing on the radio so I was flicking through all the stations. I have pre-programmed all of the available slots in my car, despite the fact that I never listen to them. So, I picked a completely random station and lo and …

Insomniacs are relentless about time, about night-time, because each minute is another grain of sand through the hour-glass and into your head for the next day. Time For Bed, David Baddiel I'm no insomniac, but I can understand that. I could not sleep at all last night. I grabbed an hour between 11 and 12, and then I watched the clock tick by until about half 2. The rest of …

It’s just... amazing. I mean, even that word doesn’t do it justice, I’m honestly speechless about it and there are few things that can have that effect on me. Two thoughts – Orlando Bloom, beautiful man! I could never get a crush on him, but my god... he’s beautiful! And secondly, the scenery? I can’t even begin to describe it. I love a film that I can get totally lost …