Hello! My name is Emma Clark Lam and I have joined Booktalk to engage with other bookish types and learn about online forums. I am a journalist, author and a book lover! I would like to hear about recommendations and reviews, and discuss my favourite books. I studied English literature at university so I love the classics - Jane Austen, George Eliot etc but I like modern fiction too. Particular favourites are Ian McEwan, Khaled Hosseini and Maggie O'Farrell. I am also a technophile - I love my Kindle and my ipad and am very excited about the ebook revolution. In my spare time, I write a blog, which features reviews of the books I have been reading.

I will spend the next few weeks learning to navigate around the site. If anyone has any tips or favoured threads, let me know!

Thanks x

Hello and welcome. I will check out your blog. I've been thinking recently of getting a kindle or kindle-type reader. My eyesight isn't what it used to be and I keep losing my glasses. It sounds funny, to me, but it's true.

Ah well, a Kindle might be just what you need as you can play about with the font size. My mother-in-law is short-sighted and she finds it easier to read some texts on her Kindle than in a physical book.

engage pinch to zoom! double tap, maximise text area

damn! still need my wife's glasses

oh, and on behalf of me, welcome Emma.

(Anna Karenina spoiler below)

Having recently read Anna Karenina the 'Life Coach' entry on your blog caught my eye. I don't see how it could have ended markedly better for Anna considering that the desire for self-improvement was directly and so very obviously at odds with a society denying the measure it considered indulgence. Anna's self-improvement was to be confined to literature. And as with Tolstoy himself, it wasn't enough! Having just argued that the ending was preordaned I do recall now how it surprised me that she did die... I think the tragedy was unavoidable though the death itself might have been prevented. Ah well...

(More Anna Karenina spoiler below)

The most poignant bit was her moment of regret as she fell onto the tracks - I thought that was very human. I think I was being a little facetious when I said AK's death might have been avoided with the help of a life coach! In any kind of modern context, we would have to hope that she wouldn't have been driven to such an end.

I love being able to increase the font size on my Kindle. My wife laughs at how large I like the font but I'd rather read with the font large than have to wear my reading glasses when reading in bed. Get a Kindle, Kevin! You'll become addicted.

And just think of all the free books you could download - all those classics with no copyright! War and Peace, perhaps?!

Emma Clark Lam wrote:(More Anna Karenina spoiler below)
I think I was being a little facetious when I said AK's death might have been avoided with the help of a life coach!

Oh that's funny. The Life Coach idea struck me as being quite profound. I imagined Tolstoy penning in such a character! I'm half thinking of testing out the market if my current job doesn't pan out.

And I think I will get a Kindle.

Let me know how you get on with the Kindle. I am interested in everyone's reader experience (particularly as I write my books for the Kindle platform).