• bsi-innovation
  • bsi-learning
  • bsi-people
  • bsi-wealth

Book Club: April

Recently, I decided to read the thriller that has been getting rave reviews in the press.  It is called “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, and I looked on Amazon to purchase it for my Kindle.  I love my Kindle and I have many books loaded onto it, and it has been invaluable to me when travelling, because previously I needed to carry with me as many as 10 paperbacks to last me for the whole trip.

So I found it on Amazon and its price was $12.82.  This seemed high to me because I usually expected Kindle books to be less than $10.  There are a number of other sites I use from time to time to access books, and one of them is The Book Depository, so I checked that site, which is based in the UK, and found the book in paperback form with free delivery to Australia for $9.98.  Obviously, I decided to purchase it from them rather than Amazon, but it got me thinking.  How is it possible that I can buy a paperback book and have it mailed to my door from as far away as the UK for less than it costs me to download a digital version from the internet?  There is something not right about this, and I have noticed that many of the books available for my Kindle are now quite a lot more expensive than they used to be.  It appears that there have been agreements made between the publishers and Amazon that artificially inflate digital prices so they are less competitive than hard copies of the books.
Once again the consumer suffers because of publishers protecting their traditional business of printing books.  I’m not happy about this and I can only hope that in time, enough of us readers complain about it until prices are adjusted.
But back to the much-hyped “Gone Girl”.  As is usually the case with hyped up books, the reality was somewhat more mundane than I was led to believe.  Notwithstanding that, it was a gripping read and kept me turning the pages, and there were a number of twists that were surprising and shocking.  However, the ending stretched my credulity too far, so I was left a little deflated by it.  Other readers may not feel this way, and the reviewers in the Observer and other newspapers and magazines clearly weren’t disappointed with it, because they were the ones giving it “Thriller of the Year” type reviews.
The author is a good writer and has come up with some amazing plot twists, and I would suggest that if a person who is single reads it, they may end up staying that way.  It is quite a terrifying exposé of what a marriage can be.  I believe the film rights have been purchased. So it may be coming to the big screen soon.

Posted on April 8, 2013

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

referron-logo
BBG-logo
spark-logo

Contact us today to find out how we can make your business grow!
Ph: 02 9126 9100  Email: info@bsi.com.au
Level 9, Angel Place,123 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000

© Copyright 2024 BSI