festivity approaches

I know everyone’s saying it, but I want to say it with conviction: I can’t believe it is one month until Christmas. And it was a whole month ago that I was holidaying in Prague. (Cue forlorn and nostalgic sighs).
My Mum told me that once you’re past 21 the years go by faster. I haven’t told her, but for the last eight years I have been realising she’s quite right. There should be a book titled something like that “Things your parents were right about”. Or more correctly “Things your parents told you as a teenager that you thought would never happen and you should never admit that they did”. As well as years going by faster, they’d be other lines such as “one day you will listen to opera music”, “nose piercing really doesn’t suit you”, “you’ll look back and know we were right” and “one day you’ll care about your car being tidy”.
(Admittedly that last one is still a tad far off for me).
Speaking of things changing over time, I’ve just been reading up on Barnes & Noble new release the Nook. Apart from its cute name, it has some novel features such as being able to sample books and lend them out. Like a library between friends. More cuteness.
Am I warming to e-books? I seem to being dazzled by their glossy functions and promise of portability and eco-saving powers. Along with words link “E-Ink”. Yes, the incongruity of glossy consumerism and environmentalism seems to have me in a trance. Plus I like the idea of being at the forefront of a revolution in a (sometimes) stagnant industry. But I vow, (with more fervour than I vowed to my parents that I would never listen to opera music or take out my nose piercing at age 16) that I’ll be an infinite campaigner of the traditional book.
And with that promise, here’s the Media 7 coverage of our last book launch. Big thanks to Simon Pound for this.