Lamenting the loss of intelligent writing...

I wonder if I am alone in being dismayed at how much bad language seems to be appearing in blogs and on facebook now?   Am I just a prude (something I have never been called to my knowledge!) or do I just have unreal expectations?

I have read quite a few blogs lately that used the 'F' word and to be honest on no occasion in any of the blogs was it necessary, I wonder if people are just becoming lazy?  Not bothering to think up a more intelligent descriptive word?

And whilst facebook seems to be hot on banning the naked form in photos it doesn't seem to mind the bad language, not just in statuses but I have also seen pages using the 'F' word in the page name.   So apparently the beautiful naked, natural body is bad but the 'F' word is OK?

The great literary writers in the past did not feel the need to swear in their works of fiction, I wonder why authors now feel the necessity to do so?  Does it make the book any better?  Will literary works from 2012 full to the brim with profanities, at some point in the future sit alongside works of Lewis Carroll, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen and even Shakespeare?

I would say perhaps I am sensitive as I have younger children, but it would be a lie because I have never liked foul language in any way, shape or form, especially when women utter it, sorry but in my book ladies should not have gutter mouths, it's just not pretty.

I am not naive enough to believe my husband doesn't utter a profanity or two on occasion when he is out with the lads, but he never does it in our home and certainly never in front of me.  I wonder perhaps if he is part of a dying breed?  The end of an era of gentlemen perhaps?

Now, whilst I don't wish to go back to times when ladies were not allowed to speak I do think we could do with a bit more gentlemanly conduct and a bit of chivalry won't go amiss either.

I can't help but despair when I see some of the young girls on TV drunk, being sick in the gutter and F'ing and blinding at everyone - is this really how low society has dropped?

I do hope I am not alone in this concern, although I fear that the 'F' word does seem to now be a usual part of our language, I wonder how long it will be before it appears in school text books?

Tansy
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Kindle vs Book debate

I have to admit, this time last year I was dismissive of the Kindle.  I LOVE books, always have.  I read on average 1-3 books a week and I have a LOT of them :-)

Then one or two of my friends obtained Kindles and started to sing their praises.  So I investigated, but I still wasn't convinced.  I love real books, I love the look, the feel and the smell of a real book.

However at Yule my hubby purchased for me a Kindle...and I haven't looked back...

I have at present over 60 books on my Kindle most of which I have downloaded for free, most of them I would never have actually thought to purchase as real books, some because I would not have seen them in the book store, some because I would not have heard of them or found them in my general searches on Amazon.  However nearly every single one of them that I have read so far I have been extremely impressed with.

Will I ever buy a real book again?  Oh yes most definitely.   There are certain books such as the Terry Pratchett books that I will always buy the real thing, I have collected every single one of his titles and have them in a book case, I will continue to add to them.    Some of the books that I have read on the Kindle I have liked so much that I have gone out and purchased the real book to add to my collection, such as the Stonewylde series by Kit Berry - lovely books that I want to keep and that I feel need to be on my book shelves.

I think it is important to have books in the house - I have the classics : Roald Dahl series, Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, Narnia and Sherlock Holmes for instance.   I also have several shelves packed full of witchcraft books - all of which I will be keeping even though I now have a Kindle and that I will still continue to add too.  

I think I view my Kindle as sort of a 'filter' - I can download books for free or at hugely reduced prices, I can then read them and if I really like them I can purchase the 'real' book for my collection, if I don't like them then no money has been wasted.

It also saves me from carrying around a book/books in my handbag - saving me from damaging them!  Very useful if you are going on holiday, at the rate I read books, especially on holiday I need an extra suitcase to carry them in - not so with the Kindle!

I think the only books I don't find work on the Kindle are cook books (yes I love cook books too and have loads of them!).  For a cook book to work for me I need a 'real' book in front of me so I can browse and look at the pictures and use it in the kitchen, I don't think a Kindle is quite the same in that respect.

So...yes I love my Kindle but I also still very much love real books and will continue to purchase them for my collection.

Tansy
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