Reading at Sea

My latest blog has been posted. Check it out.

On the Horizon: Reading at Sea!

And if you have any books to recommend for my time at sea (Azamara Quest, November 3-18, Dubai-Singapore) I'd love to hear about them!

My husband and I were so thrilled when Amazon allowed books to be loaded on to more than one Kindle; when the Kindle first came out, you had to buy the book for each device so that would have meant three purchases for our household (my mother lives here and reads the same books). Once we could all read from one purchase, we were rabid users, before that we would have at least one suitcase of books for every trip. We chartered crewed sailboats in the Virgin Islands, and when we unpacked we had a shelf of books in our cabin.

I don't have any suggestions for you because my tastes aren't the same, but I totally relate to planning the books to take with you!

My husband and I were so thrilled when Amazon allowed books to be loaded on to more than one Kindle; when the Kindle first came out, you had to buy the book for each device so that would have meant three purchases for our household (my mother lives here and reads the same books). Once we could all read from one purchase, we were rabid users, before that we would have at least one suitcase of books for every trip. We chartered crewed sailboats in the Virgin Islands, and when we unpacked we had a shelf of books in our cabin.

 

I don't have any suggestions for you because my tastes aren't the same, but I totally relate to planning the books to take with you!

Hi Pam,

I didn't know Kindle allows you to share books onto other devices. I'll have to see what DH has on his!

Hi Pam,

I didn't know Kindle allows you to share books onto other devices. I'll have to see what DH has on his!

As long as kindles are registered to same account you can download on multiple devices. Although I don't use them all, I have about 25 devices registered on my Amazon kindle account. Some books may only be downloaded on a maximum of 5 devices at one time but you can always remove the title from a device and download on another

Bonnie, not sure if you wanted tips here or on your blog but a book I recommend is The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas. I loved it set in old India and present days Wales. Another one is Entwined by Lynda la Plante and lastly for now because I could go on for ages is one I found in the HAL library Meeting the Girls by Millie Johnson, this is serious chick lit but was about/on a cruise ship so great to read when you are on one.

I always take my ereader as back up because most ships now have pretty good libraries but many years ago my DH started "reading" audio books on holiday. After scoffing that this was not seriously a real read I tried it and got addicted, it is so easy to be read to when you are on deck, in a bus or plane, I don't get white rounds from sunglasses or that little white triangle on my neck from bending down. I can also do some people watching, the only! downside is sometimes after lunch I have been known to snooze off and miss a bit. As nothing beats a real book anywhere else I always have two books going at once and try to have two different types so I don't get confused.

Rosalyn

I assume you have read Shantaram? I see the sequel, The Mountain Shadow, has just been released, although I have not read it yet.

I read every day and also use a Kindle. I buy my books mostly using the Kindle daily deal - they offer several books every day at 99p via an email. I presume this is also offered in the US, but don't know how much the books will be. You can sign up for it on the Amazon Kindle site.

One book I have down-loaded ready for my upcoming cruise is The Martian, having seen all the reviews for the film.

A series of books I have recently read and enjoyed is the Gone series by Michael Grant.

I also use audio-books, but not on cruises. I listen to them whilst in the gym, makes it much less boring. I agree tho' that it can be confusing switching from audio book to Kindle book!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Or if you really want to manage books on your Kindle (or any other e-reader for that matter), then just get a free product called Calibre and you can move books on and off your devices to your hearts content.

It can also produce a very nice Index of all your books.

So may features that I haven't even tried yet but it certainly makes it simple to share books between multiple devices.

There is nothing better than immersing myself in a really good read and when the kindle first came out I was very much against it. Suffice it to say, I will never ever go back to reading a hard/paperback book. I am a converted kindle addict for many reasons:

Less stressful on the eyes especially at night - as we get older it becomes more and more diffucult to see find print but not so with the kindle.

I have found so many new authors via the kindle. At one stage up til about 2 years ago, I used to receive a daily/weekly list of free kindle books and by downloading a few freebies I found new authors. For some reason this free download site is no longer active.

I have over the years bought several kindles from the very first to the latest including the HD Fire. I converted my husband into reading a kindle rather than a hard/paperback book.

All of my kindles are registered to the one Amazon account - I didnt think you could share your kindle books with other account holders?

You can't share with other account holders, but several devices can use one account, so you can register your Kindle, your husband's kindle and your children's kindles all to one account so long as you trust them not to spend a fortune on the account!)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My wife advise Shantaram.

I don't think any of these books actually covers the region you are visiting, and I don't know if you can get them for Kindle, but I highly recommend the series of murder mysteries by Conrad Allen which are set on the great ocean liners of the early 20th century (Murder on the ... Lusitania, Mauritania, Minnesota, Caronia, Marmora, Salsette, Oceanic, and Celtic). Not only are they good mystery stories, with a nice back-story arc about the detectives, but they bring to life the ambience and experience of sailing on these great dames of the sea.

Thank you ALL! I love all the book ideas and Kindle tips. I'm going online now to find something to put on my Kindle.

We are busy today packing and closing up the house. We leave in the morning on a very long flight to Dubai. Seems like an audio-book might be the way to go for a 16-hour flight.

Bonnie, you already have two Ondaatje books on your list ( I enjoyed them both), but a westbound Indian Ocean cruise "needs" Ondaatje's The Cat Table. I read it on a similar Azamara itinerary four years ago, and loved the tales about all the misfits from the cat's table (the furthest away from the captain's) on their cruise from Colombo to England.

Bonnie, you already have two Ondaatje books on your list ( I enjoyed them both), but a westbound Indian Ocean cruise "needs" Ondaatje's The Cat Table. I read it on a similar Azamara itinerary four years ago, and loved the tales about all the misfits from the cat's table (the furthest away from the captain's) on their cruise from Colombo to England.

Hi Dididi, I just listened to a sampling of the audiobook after getting your suggestion since this is one I haven't heard of. Micahel Ondaatje is reading it himself! I always love when an author narrates his own audio-book. Thanks for the suggestion.

In the same vein as Host Jazzbeau's recommend, "Assault on a Queen" is an entertaining sea read. An older book but still available. The Queen Mary gets hijacked at sea. And of course if you just want to be entertained at sea, there is always the original "The Love Boats". No one goes on a cruise to read Shakespeare, do they?:eek::D:D

I assume you have read Shantaram? I see the sequel, The Mountain Shadow, has just been released, although I have not read it yet.

One of my favourite ever books

You do have to hang in there, though , for the first 50-75 pages, then they are completely captivated!

One of my favourite ever books

Absolutely. A massive epic (900+ pages if I remember correctly) - perfect for holiday reading, particularly on a cruise.

If you are looking for fiction (albeit allegedly partially inspired by real life events) set in India and its neighbours, then this is a great choice.

Shantaram- brilliant book. we visited Leopolds Cafe while in Mumbai after reading about it in the book. Really gave you a great insight into the everyday struggles of Indian people. (Thanks for the heads up for the new book)

I love books set in Singapore. Tanamera (Noel Barber) is set in colonial times, at the outbreak of WW11. Marina Bay Sins(Neil Humphreys) is a murder mystery which unfolds in Marina Bay Sands hotel and finally Crazy Rich Asians (David Kwan) is a peak into Singapores high society with some absolutely bizzaire goings on!

I am sorry, I completely neglected to state that all of our ereading devices are registered on my Amazon account. Occasionally, my daughter will take hers off my account and put it on hers to take advantage of a library offering, and she does have my grandson on hers for some reason that I don't inquire into. We have both also signed up for a new Amazon program, I think it's called Amazon Unlimited or something like that; we can read books that we'd like to look into but really don't want to pay a large amount for.

We just download books from our library district, can do 20 at a time, they return in 21 days, BUT, can get a new one wherever there is wifi, renew if no one is on the list.

I imagine this recommendation is too late, but another excellent novel by a Canadian writing about the contemporary Indian subcontinent is Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance.

I imagine this recommendation is too late, but another excellent novel by a Canadian writing about the contemporary Indian subcontinent is Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance.

A Fine Balance shows up on all the 10-best books on India lists. Will have to look for it. For the flight I've downloaded Shantaram as a digital book and The Cats Tabke as an audiobook. Will decide on the plane which format I'm up for.

We just download books from our library district, can do 20 at a time, they return in 21 days, BUT, can get a new one wherever there is wifi, renew if no one is on the list.

Great idea! Which I'd looked into that earlier.