Once I start reading a book I like to read it. So if I am in the middle of Chapter 4 and Amy Dog suddenly demands to go for a walk, Amy will just have to wait. Cross her legs. Wait until the next murder has been committed. Or solved. Amy finds such an arrangement unacceptable; she has even gone as far as accusing me of cruelty. It is not cruelty, I reply (is it normal to have conversations with your dog? - come to think of it, don't bother answering, I suspect I know the answer already), it is just the magnetic attraction of a good read. So I was pleasantly surprised the other day when Amy came up with a potential solution to our little problem (our wee problem as they would say in Scotland) - synchronisation.
When you buy a Kindle book these days you have the choice, in many cases, to buy an Audio version of the same book. And if you have an Audiobook App on your smartphone you can get your phone to whisper via the cloud to your Kindle and tell it where you have got to - and vice versa. So I can read my Kindle until Amy gives one of pleading wuffs; walk her through the woods whilst I call upon some professional reader to carry on reading to me, and then return home and my Kindle will automatically know where I have got to.
There is only one problem - the bath. I am rather fond of soaking in a hot bath and reading at the same time. But it is a dangerous environment for Kindles and their electronic ilk - especially if you are in the habit of falling asleep - and therefore you need a good old-fashioned paperback to read in the bath. No problem, just buy one of them as well (I am constantly surprised to discover you can still buy books made of paper), and that I have done. But I can't get the book to whisper to the cloud and tell it which page I have got to. I have asked Amy for help, but she couldn't care less: she hates baths and wants nothing to do with them. Is there anyone out there who has invented a thingy to synchronise my paperback book with my Kindle and my Audiobook Player? I need to know so that I can become a man of perfect synchronicity.
Don't worry, Alan. Every pet owner has conversations with their pets. Actually, you'd be weird if you *didn't* converse with Amy.
ReplyDeleteI find I'm too easily distracted by audiobooks - you can lose your place and have to rewind. That's not even possible with a real book - get distracted and you return to exactly the same place.
ReplyDeleteDogs are in perfect synchronicity only with their bladder and their food bowl. Not together, of course.
ReplyDeleteBookmark?
ReplyDeleteA bookmark!!! You mean a bit of paper or a turned down page corner! How very twentieth century.
DeleteThis made me laugh...The other day, while reading in bed, I fell asleep and my Kindle slid to the floor where my cats rather wickedly pushed it beneath the bed and out of reach. I missed it for two days before discovering its hiding place...They have never done this with a non-digital book...
ReplyDeleteNope you will need to dog ear a page for the bath book. I like to read in the tub too. So glad to hear that Amy is not ignored:)
ReplyDeleteWell I have tried downloading audio books from the library in the middle of the night hoping they would lull me to sleep but all I seem to get are readers from a country I would rather not name who read with twangy voices and send my blood pressure up when all I want is a Richard Burton or Maggie Smith to read me my bedtime story. - boundforoz
ReplyDeleteAlan! Have you not perfected a method of reading a book while walking along?
ReplyDeleteUse a scanning app linked to a text recognition app linked via satellite phone to the cloud with a reverb kindle sync widget?
ReplyDeleteI think you might just have the kernel of a good idea there, Martin. With deductive powers like that, you should play chess.
DeleteLast Saturday I finally got around to reading the (paper) Manual that came with the camcorder I bought over 2 years ago .I discovered it was waterproof & capable of shooting in under water.(who Knew!) Maybe yours (Kindle not dog) operates under water too?
ReplyDelete