This time last year, I sat down to try and work out what my ‘Book of the Year’ was, and realised that, as much as the books themselves, what really dominated my reading landscape in 2011 was the arrival of the Kindle sample in my life.

I received a Kindle Paperwhite for Xmas. Getting to grips with it today, I am already fascinated by the ‘time until end of chapter’ feature. When I first read about this on the Amazon website, I could see how this would encourage me to read more each night. After all, what’s ten minutes less sleep when Paul Auster’s got you by the throat? I’ve no doubt that, for many titles, this will be the case (which is, obviously, where the added lighting benefits of Paperwhite will really come into their own).

But interestingly, by making me consciously think about the time it’s taking to read something, or rather, the time I am spending reading any given text, my Paperwhite is inviting me to constantly ask myself, is this book really worth X hours of your life?

So, like the discovery of samples in 2011, I suspect this new feature of the Kindle is going to galvanise my inner tyrant even further in 2013. And, like the samples feature, it will actually help me be, if perhaps not a more discerning reader, then at least one who can better narrow the ever-increasing fields of choice to her own delights.

And this from a reader who swore blind the digital book thing would never take off.

Oh well, wrong again. Next!

COMING SOON: My book of the year post. In the meantime, I am very much looking forward to hearing what yours was.