I’ve been using Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guides for years. Updated yearly, the Guide contains a synopsis, mini review (with essential “star” rating) and cast list for most films out on video, playing on cable or network television, or otherwise available for our viewing pleasure. I’ve always enjoyed Maltin’s capsule reviews, but the Guide has grown over the years from a manageable 600-page volume when I bought my first copy to more than 1600 pages in 2010. It’s an immense book, indeed.
It’s a book we normally keep near the television, and although we are a very Internet-wired household, with IMDB (the Internet Movie Database) and Rotten Tomatoes permanently bookmarked on the Internet browser, the Guide is a handy reference to keep nearby. Maltin gets to the heart of the movie and its attributes in a couple of paragraphs, and with a comprehensive index of stars and directors at the back of the book, the Guide is helpful in steering the reader toward more films by the same actors and directors.
Because it weighs in at hefty 1664 pages, I thought the Maltin Movie Guide would be a good candidate to download to my Sony Reader (Pocket Edition). The Reader itself weighs considerably less than the printed book and would likely be more manageable by far that the fat print volume with its tissue thin pages. I was wrong.
The Pocket Edition Sony Reader is a great choice for many books. It’s highly portable; it’s small enough to fit in my purse (or even a large coat pocket) with dimensions approximating a very skinny paperback. It’s great for porting along a whole library of vacation reading material, and I love bringing mine to lunch because the Sony Reader provides a far pleasanter experience than trying to turn pages while eating salad (or worse, soup) and attempting to keep the book open to the page I’m trying to read.
Article comments
1 - Phil Cebu
Just got my Sony Digital Reader yesterday. I'm impressed. It really looks quite better when you actually have it in your hands. Can't wait to get book pages inside.