whilst i've never been opposed to ebooks in principle, i've always disliked the kindle for a string of reasons (see kindle below), so i've rather surprised myself by falling in love with ibboks on the ipad, on which i'm reading wirginia woolf's orlando (her gender-bending historical romp; one of her best-selling novels at the time but not a great work of art and for woolf completists really). the interface is great. it looks like a book (black print on white 'paper'), the page flip is rather sexy, the search, navigation and bookmarking are fluid and intuitive (you really can flip back and forth easily) and the underlining / highlighting are actually easier than using a biro. you also get to see the (colour) covers, titles and authors' names on the main 'library' page (kindle readers occaisonally tell me they're reading a great book then can't remember the author because they don't see it when they pick up the kindile which remains 'open' at the last page they read). obviously you can't use it in bright sunlight or in the pool (neither of which i've ever really done with books) but now that my ipad is fixed suited in a us military grade rubberised cover (mostly so my children don't destroy it) i can drop it onto conrete from 6 ft or use it in a sandstorm, presumably if i need some down time while invading an oil-rich middle eastern country.

but, but, but... this particular novel / edition contains the worst piece of proofreading / ebook scanning i have ever seen:

'to seventy yellow satin chairs and sixty stools, suitable with their buckram covers to them all... sankuarsankuarsan kuarsank uarsanku arsan kuarsanku arsankua rsank uar sankua rvsanku arsankua rsankuarsan kuar...' etc. to end of paragraph.

shame on you, penguin digital.