Strangely enough, I see Amazon as almost the perfect place to browse books, and discover authors that could be right up my street.

I find myself - as they say - on the horns of a dilemma here.

On the one hand I want to speak up in support of traditional bookshops,and on the other hand I'm forced to agree with those who say that Amazon is virtually unbeatable when it comes to offering a breadth of choice.

No high street bookstore even comes close in terms of the sheer numbers of titles available on demand, and with the advent of the e-book reader the gap has widened still further. I very much doubt that I will buy many 'dead tree' books in future - almost all of my current reading is done via my Kindle and iPad. I can get books for far less, and I can get them in under a minute on both devices, no matter where I am.

It's both exciting and sad - I spent a lot of time browsing in bookshops a year or so ago, but I haven't been inside one since.

Using, even. Book shops aren't high up on my list of companies I'd like to sue!!

I used to use bookshops quite a lot.

I stopped using Smith's when they started charging for ordering a book, and I'm talking about normal, in print, novels, not obscure research tomes.

I stopped using Waterstone's when the blaring "background" music made it impossible to concentrate and have a good browse, though this may change now that HMV is selling that part of its business.

I get most of my books from libraries. They have an online database of over over a million titles, and I just request any I want for collection at my local library. The service is free.

I do still buy some books, but my limit is £1 for any book. I buy from charity shops (eg Y.M.C.A., 30p for a paperback, 50p for a hardback), market stalls, and The Works. I do enjoy a browse still.