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Good Reading : JULY 2016
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Well, you could blow me over with a feather. This month 15 years ago (let me repeat to myself, 15 years ago!) we published our first issue of Good Reading. It’s an odd feeling to think back to that time. I know it’s a cliché, but it actually doesn’t feel like 15 years have passed. But if you look through the first few issues and compare them to today’s issues, you’ll see that we’ve come a long way. And I can say with hand on heart that not once, ever, have I been bored or tired of publishing Good Reading. I really know how lucky I am to be doing what I love. And Good Reading has been very lucky to have had such passionate staff. This has been one of our biggest blessings. They all care very much and, like you, have become my family’s extended family. But the world keeps moving on, and although the advent of digital has not seen off the print issue of Good Reading, nor has it seen off the print book, as we see e-books sales plateauing out and the print book back on the up and up. I’d stake my reputation on the likelihood that print books will never die. I only have to ask any book lover if they read e-books on a tablet or other device to receive a passionate response in retur n. Some would say ‘NEVER!’ They can’t give up that tactile exper ience, knowing exactly where you’re up to and the pleasure of looking lovingly at books you’ve read as they rest on your bookshelves. Other readers will respond with ‘ABSOLUTELY! They tell me that there is room for e-books in their lives, but they still buy and bor row print books as well. Many readers use e-books while travelling or for books they consider as quick reads and which they don’t necessar ily want to keep. Rarely, though, do I find anyone who reads only e-books. If you love reading books, then you’ll be a sucker for at least some print editions. And there’s still something special about a magazine arr iving in the mail. Hear ing a ding sound in your email is not quite the same as seeing the latest issue in your letterbox, opening it and flicking through to see what’s in store for you. The rise in sales of the print book is something that fills me with glee. I love print books. And while I’m pretty well up to speed technically, I have never had the same exper ience when reading a book on an e-reader as I do with the real thing. So it’s clear which camp I am in. But if reading digitally works for you then I say great! They both have a place. Somebody mentioned to me the other day the idea of a slow reading movement. Like the Slow Food movement, in which sustainable GOODREADINGMAGAZINE.COM.AU GOOD READING JULY 2016 6 Julia Lloyd Bruin Jo Burnell Lauren Cook Tessa Chudy Alex van Gelderen Judith Grace Tim Graham Grant Hansen Clive Hodges David Johnson Leslie Lightfoot Heather Lunney Merle Morcom Wendy Noble Jennifer Somerville Emma Stubley Brooke Walker MAUREEN EPPEN is a Perth-based journalist and aspiring novelist with a penchant for tying herself in knots – at yoga practice. See page 21 NICK EARLS is a Brisbane-based writer who, in 2013, was placed 12th on a list of Australia’s all-time favourite novelists. See page 12 FEATUREWRITERS REVIEWERS CONTRIBUTORS FOREWORD
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