I can hardly wait until the Kindle or something just like it is available in Canada. Why? Because I am a volume consumer of detective stories, fantasy, space opry and thrillers, and the paperbacks pile up in corners of the house at alarming speed.

I would like to be able to buy my fix of literary junk in a moment of impulse without having to trail downtown to Chapters. I would be delighted to have bundles of bad reading packed into a machine that fits neatly into my office bag so I can haul it around with me all the time, and thus have something new to read handy whenever I find myself in need of it. I would be thrilled to have all that without the inevitable accumulation of blocks of paper with luridly coloured covers.

Okay, so the publishing industry is in deep trouble if the Kindle goes truly viral. I think it would be great to stop hurling down the softwood trees of sub-Arctic Canada to support the junk reading habits of people like me, not to speak of the romance fan I saw on the bus the other day with the cover of her book turned back as if it were a magazine.

That's another thing I consume in large quantities: magazines. Just think: no more heaps of old New Yorkers on the coffee table!