The digital revolution from a generation above

I got a Kindle for Christmas, yes I did.

Smuggins here downloaded 10 weightless volumes to take on a fortnight holiday. Man, I was pleased with myself when I was 4 kg under baggage weight. Four whole kilos.

My little device connected directly to Amazon the moment I switched the little blighter on. I spent a small fortune buying e-books from the site, which I will read once and will then be consigned to the archive forever more.

Hey presto, I was e-reading to my heart's content.

Enter stage left mother.

This women devours books. Three a week as well as a full-time job and that's a bad week.

One of those mysterious people who consumes fiction quicker than you or I eat crackers.

In the same team as my old boss who once read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in a weekend.

This is *inexplicable* reading power.

And as we know, with great power comes great responsibility.

And so it began - mother decides it's time for an e-reader.

She's not one of those who just consumes with the crowd. Yes, Amazon are good, she says, but are they the best?

Hours of configuring, reconfiguring, changing font and line spacing on my Kindle later, she is not convinced. ('I need something in the middle').

She starts surfing forums. Actual web research is taking place.

I remember when I used to do such a thing and feel slightly ashamed I no longer bother - I simply assume Amazon will deliver to me The Best

It is learned that Amazon doesn't offer book rental.

Now, Mum has actually read the entire contents of Battle library in three years, so this poses a significant problem - she doesn't want to pay a fiver every time she wants to put her super-power to use.

She wants to rent off Google (when she explains this to me my brain actually explodes - how can she know more about this than me?).

She investigates the Sony e-book but is soon turned off by online reviews, eventually settling for a KoBo which she sets up independently of me and downloads the first of her rented books to.

One of these days, I realise, she's going to stop needing me.