Best-seller of all time

I have masses of books that I am fairly sure I will never read again but can't bear to get rid of. But having a Kindle has meant that I haven't added many to the bookshelves for the past year.

I also have a 'library' in my house with currently about 1,000 spread out over various bookcases - now need another one. A Kindle doesn't appeal at all. I love the smell and feel of a new book. I love the look of a book. I know a kindle can store loads of books and is handy to carry but it aint me. A friend took hers on holiday, something went wrong with it and she was without any reading matter. What a horrible thought - nothing to read. Fifty Shades of Grey didn't appeal to me, nor did Harry Potter, Twilight books or The Hunger Games. I read a lot of fiction but also love history books, and I don't mean historical romance like Phillipa Gregory. You don't get pictures on Kindle do you. Whereas a lot of my history books also have pictures which adds to the enjoyment and understanding of the book.

dorsetpennt me too, I love new books, I keep all the ones I have really liked and offload the rest to friends or charity shops. Like you I also like factual history books, many I have were my parents, but I have added more of my own over the years. I love history it's something I like to dip into frequently.

It's horses for courses. A Kindle or Sony eReader is great for reading novels and the like in bed. Much more manageable than a book. Likewise for a hospital waiting room or airport when you want something lightweight with plenty on it. Odd sized books, and those with lots of illustrations and photos, that are enjoyed because of the way they are bound together are equally enjoyable. I've got lots of both.

I have taken bin liners full of novels to charity shops in my time. However, a few years ago faced with having to buy yet another bookcase, decided to thin out my collection.

Kept non-fiction, diaries of Evelyn Waugh, Samuel Pepys, that kind of thing.

Now I use my Kindle for the kind of novel I know I won't read again. If I want poetry or something I think of as special, I buy the book.

My Kindle has hugely extended my reading range. Not all light stuff. I got The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius for free (only read the first few pages so far).

At the moment I am heavily into Tartan Noir.

We have books wall to wall, on every wall of the house.i have been weeding them out but while getting rid of fiction I am still adding to my collection of books on Antarctica and I can't resist editions of Pepys Diary. I read a lot on my iPad but every now and then I read a book that I just have to own in hard copy. Nothing equates to the joy of holding a book in your hands but the technology is very handy when you are out and about.

I agree with those who love the feel of a 'real' book - we did not get many presents as children but every Christmas my sister and I would get a an annual each and I can still remember the smell of the pages.

Geoffrey Archer is an extremely bad and extremely rich author. Mills and Boon love stories sell in their millions. No accounting for taste.

The worst book I have ever read was 'Flowers in the Attic' by Virginia Andrews - implausible plot and unbelievable dialogue.

The best - a toss up between Emma and Pride and Prejudice.

I still buy books. I like the feel and the look of them. I do wish they didn't collect dust. Used a Kindle for the whole of a two week holiday because a friend insisted that I try hers. She felt sure I would love it and buy one. It was okay. But.....I just don't have the words for the feeling of preference for holding a book.

Although I have admitted on GN to have read the three Fifty Shades books from start to finish and one after the other, I would never suggest them to a friend on the grounds of great literature. At the same time I was interested enough in the two main characters to find out how things progressed. I thought that the heroine was a reasonably well-drawn one.

However, Fifty Shades will not be re-read by me unlike the novels of Barbara Kingsolver, one of the best women writers of our time along with Margaret Attwood. I have just re-read Margaret Attwood's Robber Bride for the third time, not out of desparation for something to read but because I have recently met someone who reminded me of a character in that book. During the winter months I shall no doubt re-read a Jane Austen and a Thomas Hardy and a Trollope, not Joanne, although I do read her too. Charles Dickens has been a new discovery to me in these last five years. And I am devouring his books but in between I am quite capable of deriving a certain amount of pleasure from light-weight fiction.

E L James has provided a lot of women/mostly women with an entertainment. Some GNs seem to feel that she has committed some sort of insult to the reading public. Not at all. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

I've got one of those kindle covers with a built-in light. A bit pricier, but worth every penny imho. Means I can read in bed at night while DH slumbers, without troubling him by keeping the lights on, and I can read in our sitting room, which doesn't actually have very good lighting. When your eyes are as bad as mine are getting, that's a real boon!

flowerfriend What you have said in your last paragraph is what made me wonder if I was being an intellectual snob. I have read only extracts of the book, not the whole thing, and they did strike me as a) badly written, b) anti-feminist and c) poor quality erotica or simply porn. I have the same sort of feeling of vague annoyance about this book being Britain's best seller of all time as I do when Lady Gaga is voted is voted the most powerful woman in the world. It's probably my inner Victor Meldrew.

I feel the same, absent. The 'going viral' thing has nothing to do with merit. It's the feeling that 'if everyone else is reading it, then I must....' Being a cussed sort of person, I just tend to do the opposite, though I must confess to having read the Da Vinci Code because someone chose it for our book group. They have collectively decided to do the same with 50 Shades but I wasn't there and have decided not to go along with it. Just call me Victor.

Interesting to read all your thoughtful comments. I haven't read 50 shades... I know many readers have enjoyed it, but it wouldn't be for me. There are so many books I want to read, and too little time!

I, too, love real books, and can't resist buying them, but the kindle is great for holidays. I have the app on my IPad, which I find easier to navigate than the kindle. Another thing I love about it is that I can read a review or hear a recommendation, and get the book on the kindle immediately. I'm currently reading Elizabeth Taylor (the novelist, not the actor) - wonderful!

What I like about the kindle is, if there is a huge cast of characters in the book, you can just type the name of any one in the search box and it takes you straight back to the paragraph where they are first mentioned.