Category: Books

I got a Kobo GLO HD

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I wanted to buy an ebook reader, from a long time, for two simple reasons:

  1. The battery lasts for weeks and weeks
  2. You can read the screen very well in the sunlight

When I saw that the basic Kindle was in promotion at 59 euro (now it sells for $79) I almost ordered one, but then I didn’t, for the following reasons:

  1. It shows ads, unless you pay an extra $20. I tried it in a store, and those ads on the home and the screensaver were really annoying
  2. I have to convert every single ebook in the Amazon proprietary format
  3. I have to convert every single manga in the Amazon proprietary format
  4. You can’t install apps
  5. The screen is unreadable in the dark

My ideal reader would be based on Android, so I could install Dropbox, Pocket, an epub reader (ebook) and a CBR reader (manga).

You can find them on the market, but they all suck, with exorbitant prices (the e-ink screens are very expensive at wholesale) and have poor performance.I saw that it was possible to hack the Nook Simple Touch Glowlight and install Android 2.1.But I didn’t really like this idea. First of all I would have paid $90 for a reader that was discontinued three years ago, and would have a low screen resolution, then surely customs would give me another 50 Euros of tax / duty / taxes “gift”, and then it the end all I got would be an obsolete “hybrid” tablet with Android 2.1, and all the apps would be discontinued also: how long could I continue to use Dropbox, Pocket and other apps before a change of API would kill them?

I eventually found the KOBO GLO HD, which in Italy is sold directly on Amazon for 10 euro less than the official price (119 euro).

Can you install apps on it? No, but its operating system based on Linux is very nicely done and I don’t need to hack it.

  1. It can read CBR and CBZ comics, without conversion, just copy the files via USB
  2. It can read EPUB and PDF ebooks without the need for conversion or special sync programs
  3. It natively integrates with Pocket and syncs everything for automatic offline reading.Instead of reading a webpage on the PC, I click on the Pocket icon in my browser, and boom, I get them on the Kobo. Awesome!
  4. The screen is very bright
  5. The screen resolution is incredibly high

It would have been much more perfect if it had physical buttons instead of being 100% touch, but you can’t have everything in life.

1Q84

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1Q84I just read 1Q84, by Murakami Haruki. Reading the 700 pages was very exciting: I read it without knowing absolutely anything about the content (I chose it because I liked the cover) and it’s one of those books where everything is revealed in the end. The asked me “what’s that book? What’s the story?”, I had to reply “I dunno, there are two people, but I don’t know how they can relate each other” until I got around half book.

To be honest, when I got to the end of the book I was disappoined and I shouted “what the f*ck!”: I felt like that book reviewer inside this story, after reading the fictional book Air Chrysalis , wrote a disappointed review like

A very interesting story, keeps engaged until the end, but we still don’t know what’s the Air Chrysalis and the Little People

Disappointed, I google for an explanation, because how a detailed book like this could have such a short ending?

Luckily, looks like the story will continue in a third volume, not yet translated from japanese! (In Utaly the publisher merged the first two books in one volume, I don’t know about other countries) I’m eager to read it!