Book 52: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas, published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Book 53, Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J Maas, published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Book 54: Heir of Fire, by Sarah J Maas, Published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing DNF

This post is about my attempt at becoming a regular iPad/Kindle reader. And let me tell you, that’s not happening. Well, you could see that from the way my reading project seems to have ground to a stuttering halt.

One of my reading buddies requested that I read Sarah J Maas’s fantasy series Throne of Glass so she would have someone to discuss it with. I looked at the series online and read a few pages here and there. I didn’t think it would be worth my while to buy the books in print since I didn’t know yet whether I would like them enough to read them again.

Charged up my second-hand refurbished iPad, found the Libby Library and went through its hoops to sign up. The first of the series happened to be on a seven-day borrowing shelf, so ‘signed that out’ and went for it. 

I am a fairly fast reader so despite the beginner problems I had with volatile formatting–at least I told myself they were beginner problems–it took me about five hours to read. Not comparable to N K Jemesin’s Broken Earth series … but an okay read. I was told the series would improve as I went along.

Couple of days later started to look for Part Two. I did not have a list of the series beside me, and I found it next to impossible to find a sequential list in the online library catalogue. The Libby Library catalogue apparently runs on an advertisement-type schedule where they were pushing all kinds of texts somewhat but not directly related to the sequential series I was intending to read. Like they said, read me! Read me next!

If I’d been at the paper-and-print library, I would’ve looked for a completely different topic to read while waiting, so as not to confuse the story line. Nor could I check the titles in sequential order in the online version of Part One, the way I would’ve gone to the back or front of a print book to read a list of the complete series. I would’ve had to go out of the Libby app to a site like Goodreads or something. And sign in. And. And.

A moment’s work to a native of the internet. And I’ll always be a migrant. Some of the newer skills appear to be beyond me. I now have two conflicting aspects working against me. I am getting older and so slowing down. Nothing I can do about that. A fact of life. Technology is speeding up. More new ways of doing things being invented as well as well as everything going faster—more efficiently, they call that.

So yes, it took me probably three quarters of an hour to find the title of part two and put a hold on it. I don’t understand why online libraries need to have a three week borrowing limit. Not that it takes me three weeks to read most novels. Then I had to wait a week before a copy could become available to me. I chose to wait, and I chose to not cave in to the extraneous novels being offered. Lol, I realized recently that I am a dyed in the wool resistance fighter—about anything, not just digital indignities—stupid software is just the present thing.

In the meantime I tried to re-familiarize myself with the iPad software by reading a newspaper on it, and playing various games etc. They are all fine, but while I have my mobile I can’t be bothered to keep them both going. My mobile I can keep in my pocket. The iPad I need a bag for. The time rolled round for me to read part two of the series. It would’ve been just as gripping as the first, if the iPad or the app hadn’t started to muck up. Or, let me be plain, continue to muck up.

There apparently is no way in that iPad/software where I can fix the page size. So, every couple of paragraphs, the page would resize and I’d lose my place. Usually this happened half a minute or less after I’d so-called turned the page. Teeth-grindingly irritating. I probably touched it the wrong way. I looked for every way, control key, touch thingie, whatever, to try and fix, as in set the parameters, of the page format but no go. Could not find it!

After reading two and a half installments of the Throne of Glass series, I abandoned the online part of the reading project, despite having placed a hold on Tim Winton’s Juice. I just checked and hallelujah it’s now available in paperback so probably I will send for it. Tim Winton’s output I can always re read.